Mary Fabulous
by confessions.of.katijane
Summary: Katie Bell is a completely content, fabulous seventh year until she discovers that the something or someone she's lacking is about to be taken by a Mary Sue, and now Katie's out to battle the bunnies, frills, & oh my goshs to win the one she loves!
1. New Girl

**A/N: I wasn't planning on starting another fic so soon after finishing Your Kiss, but this idea just sort of came to me…haha. I'm really not as pleased with the characterizations as much in this new one as I was in Your Kiss, but it sort of needs to be this way, & I think the plot will carry it. I'm also planning on starting another fic the same time, so be looking for that one, too! **

I'm not really the type of girl that people always cheer for in romantic stories where two girls are attempting to win the heart of the same boy. In fact, I'm really not that girl at all. I'm not exactly Mary Sue enough, I guess…See, I wear makeup, my hair generally looks nice (except when it's in the wind), I was voted Hogwart's most fashionable 7th year, I have a wardrobe filled with trendy, offbeat clothing, and I own exactly fifty-two pairs of shoes. I'm not really what you'd call sweet like your basic romantic heroine either. I mean, yeah, I genuinely care about the human race and I constantly do volunteer work in St. Mungo's with my aunt, but no one really knows about it so it's like it doesn't count. I'm sarcastic, cynical, and I love to make fun out of what are supposed to be rather "touching" anecdotes or incidents. I'm not the world's greatest student. I'm smart enough, but I never work at it. I'm not best friends with the school librarian. I don't' do my homework. I'm great at sports and I enjoy them. I'm consistently tardy to everything I promise or don't promise I will be at. I'm not dependable, I don't have a 'sweet disposition', I'm loud and flashy, I enjoy getting into trouble, I fight back, and I constantly look for ways to start controversy. I have no qualms about disliking "Team Abercrombie & Witch" (what I call Hogwart's big & beautiful). Please don't take this as me being a stuck up prick who looks down on the rest of society because it's totally not. This is just who I am. I'm your typical eighteen year old never been kissed schoolgirl. Without the cliché that comes with it. So when Melanie Crow transferred from an all-girls muggle school to Hogwarts in our seventh year, all Hell broke loose on my perfect world.

"Anga-Freakin'-Leena!" I yelled at the top of my lungs over a bunch of milling first-years and their parents. Mum and I were at Hogwarts station, her seeing me off to school for what would be the last time. She was a bit teary about the whole thing, but I was fine and besides, she had my four other sisters to see off; one of them about to leave off for her first year. My sister Danielle had left her pet owl Taffy at our home and was upset about it, causing Mum to be a bit perturbed. Which was fine by me because it stopped her from being a water faucet in front of half the wizarding population. However, at the same time it did produce somewhat of an unpleasant effect.

"Kathryn, could you please keep your voice down?" she snapped, trying to button up Kendra's robes for her. Kendra was the first year, who hadn't a clue how to really dress herself properly.

I rolled my eyes. "Mum, how else was I supposed to get Ange's attention? She just got here!"

"You saw her _yesterday_," Mum pointed out exasperated.

"So?"

"Katie!" Angelina had crossed the platform and was now smothering me with a big hug. She was very much taller than I was and somehow it made it awkward for me.

"Ange, my head is in your bussie's!" I complained, pushing her away.

She laughed good-naturedly. "Have you seen Allie?"

"No, not yet…" I replied, glancing around. It wasn't long before I spotted the familiar blonde head struggling with her trunk, attempting to drag it along by herself. Alicia's parents were muggles and consequently never made the trip to see her off. I think they had some sort of dinner the night before…I'd been to it once. Fred and I had nearly burned her house down in a curious incident with a marshmallow. Apparently muggles light them on fire and use them as food. Fred and I had assumed more of an interesting game of quidditch was intended. Consequently, we hadn't been invited back. Oh well.

"AL!" I shouted.

"Kathryn!" my Mum moaned. We ignored her.

"AL!" I shouted again. This time, the blonde jerked up causing her to drop the trunk and all its contents to spill to the ground.

"Oh no," she moaned, bending over to pick it up.

"Sorry," I said guiltily, running over to help her with Angie in tow. Alicia groaned and put her head into her hands. "Today has been _terrible_!" she declared, violently running her hands through her hair. "I'm late, I look awful, I didn't get to finish my Potions assignment on time…"

"You started it?" I asked blankly. Angelina gave me alook.

"Aw, Allie, it'll be alright. We'll get a nice compartment on the train and get some chocolate frogs or something. That sound good? Hey, besides, I think I see George coming…that ought to cheer you up!"

Both of us looked up to wear Angelina was directing her gaze. Sure enough, the two Weasley twins trotted along jauntily, not a care in the world, with Lee Jordan not far behind.

"Sorry!" George called out cheerily when they arrived. "Got into a bit of a tough scrape back at the temporary homestead. Took a while to get here." He looked down at his girlfriend. "Why are you on the ground, Alicia?" he asked curiously.

Alicia just groaned. I turned to Fred as George bent down beside her and tried to cheer her up. "Where were you guys living again?" I asked.

"Can't tell you, Kate," Fred replied, and then lowered his voice. "It had to do with You-Know-Who."

"Oh, right." My parents had been disappearing quite frequently to some mysterious place called The Order of the Phoenix, of which they would tell me limited amounts. My correspondence with the Weasley twins hadn't informed me of much either. It wasn't until Angelina had her summer party at her vacation home in Brighton until I'd been filled in. I was still not allowed to know their location, however, and it bothered me a great deal.

"Cheer up," he said. "You know just about as much as I do and you know that. Where we've been really isn't that interesting. What's interesting is what we can't know."

"If You-Know-Who's really back," I said angrily, "It seems like the people who know the most would want the rest of us to know the truth so we know how to protect ourselves."

"I know," he agreed, and then clamped his arm tightly around my shoulder. "But let's look at positives, shall we? Here we all are again! You and me, George and Alicia, Ange and Lee. The dream team is back in business!"

I hope you didn't group that in terms of couples, because I'm not dating you," I informed him grouchily, throwing his arm off of my shoulder. "Just because everyone else has decided to go be stupid and-"

"Of course I wasn't, Katie," Fred replied. "You're not quite up to standard yet of what I'd want in a girlfriend."

I lunged for him and missed, leading to a chase scene around some first and second years, as well as a tall girl I didn't know. After knocking a couple of the first years and topping a second year into the tall girl who kindly offered him assistance, my mum caught wind of what was going on and decided, with her usual liking to end any sort of fun, to put a stop to it.

"Kathryn! Fred! Come over here!"

We both looked at each other and guiltily walked over to where my mum was standing.

"What are you two doing?" she asked scoldingly. "You're seventh years, what kind of example to do you think you're setting to the younger students like Kendra?"

"Sorry, Mrs. Bell," Fred muttered.

"Sorry, Mum," I echoed.

She looked at us appraisingly. "Alright then. Kathryn, come here for just one second."

I exchanged a glance with Fred and he sauntered of to go join the rest of our friends. I turned to Mum, expecting the worst, but instead found myself enveloped in a warm hug. "You be good," she whispered into my ear. "And be careful…you know better than most of these people what's going on. I expect you to set a good example for your sisters." She let go and I looked at her.

"Of course I will, Mum," I replied.

"I know," she said, sighing. "You just be yourself. We love who you are, and we're all so proud of you." She had tears in her eyes as she hugged me again. "I love you, Katie."

Taken offguard by the use of my nickname, I hugged her back tightly and then grabbed my trunk and left before the tears became infectious.

Angelina, Alicia, and I put our trunks away and scouted out a nice, large compartment a the back of the train. The guys were off at the moment, probably buying the entire cart from the cart witch. I was seated across from Alicia and next to Ange. We were just about to start a nice game of exploding snap when there was a knock at our compartment door. We looked at each other strangely. _Who knocks at a compartment door_? Curiously, I pushed it open. Standing there with a slight, self conscious smile was the tall girl I'd knocked the second year into on the platform. She looked to be about our age with long, pretty dark hair and a cute, unassuming face. She was already changed into her robes and clutching a fluffy cat.

"Hi," she said. "My name's Melanie. I'm new here, and I was looking for a place to sit, if it's not too much trouble…"

We looked at each other and then I shrugged, jerking my head toward the compartment inviting her to sit. I was pretty chill about most things and consequently didn't mind allowing the new girl to share the compartment. She sat down next to Alicia and looked at us smilingly.

"I'm Alicia Spinnet," said Alicia, smiling and sticking out her hand for Melanie to shake it.

"Angelina Johnson," Angelina said, also sticking out her hand.

Melanie smiled, shook them, and then looked at me. "And you are…?" she asked.

_Oh, right. I guess I should introduce myself._

"Sorry," I said. "I'm Katie. Katie Bell."

"Nice to meet you all," said Melanie cheerfully. "I was getting so worried no one would talk to me." She laughed pleasantly and the rest of us smiled. "You see, this is my first year at Hogwarts…first year at any wizarding school actually."

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"I'm Muggle-Born," Melanie explained. "And for some reason there was a mix-up at the Hogwarts and Beauxbatons' offices and each thought I belonged to the other school. It wasn't until this summer I ran into Professor McGonagoll and she saw me levitating some of the blankets I was passing out to the homeless. You see, I've always known I could do things other people couldn't, but I never _dreamed_ I was actually magic! Anyway, the professor noticed I wasn't doing it with a wand and started talking to me, and well…the rest is history!"

She made the little "hmm" noise that some girls make after they've finished laughing or talking. I just looked at her. The words "passing out blankets to the homeless" and "never_ dreamed_" caught my attention. The girl was obviously some kind of Mary Jane, Mary Sue, whatever kind of girl. I decided to test my theory.

"What's your cat's name, Melanie?" I asked.

"Oh, him?" she smiled. "This is Truffles." She held up Truffles to show everyone, smiling again.

"He's cute," Angelina said approvingly.

_Definite Mary Sue. But whatever, that's fine._ Like I said, I was chill. She could be as bubbly as she liked. It wasn't really my style, but it didn't matter.

Just then, the boys came back, their arms loaded down with treats and snacks. They didn't even notice Melanie. Lee squished in between Angelina and I, dropping about a dozen pumpkin pasties on her lap. George sat on Alicia's lap before being pushed off onto Melanie.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, Truffles jumping off her lap and clawing Fred as he walked in. Fred's chocolate Frogs flew up in the air as he yelped in pain and grabbed his leg.

"What in the bloody--!" he asked incredulously.

"Sorry!" Melanie exclaimed, "It's my cat, Truffles. He got a little excited when your brother landed on him."

"Who're you?" George asked abruptly, turning to face the girl he'd been sitting next to without realizing it.

"Sorry, I should have introduced myself. I'm Melanie Crow, I'm new to the school." She explained her story for the second time.

"Well, welcome aboard," Fred said easily, flopping down next to me. "Name's Fred, this is my twin brother George, and that's our friend Lee. George and Lee are both dating these two fine young ladies here, but I'm available if you're interested."

Fred was joking, but it made Melanie stare at him incredulously. "I don't even know you," she said, sounding a little scared.

I laughed. "He's kidding, Melanie. That's what we do around here. We joke."

"Oh…"

She made a weak attempt at a smile and a nod.

"So, Mel," George began cheekily, cookie crumbs spilling out of his open mouth. "Where are you from?"

"Mount Hurst," she replied quickly. "It's a little town on the edge of Britain."

"Interesting," Lee put in. "And how's the male population in Mount Hurst? You must have left a boyfriend behind there. You're pretty good looking."

Angelina whacked him in the arm, but Melanie answered seriously, "Actually, I've never had a boyfriend. I went to an all-girls school all my life."

We all exchanged glances. She was more Mary Sue than I had thought.


	2. She Stole My Bed!

**Disclaimer: I forgot to add one last chapter, so here it is. And make it count for the whole rest of the story too...I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER. Savvy?**

**A/N: I'm just going to tell you now...it's not really my goal to remain 100 truthful to OotP...I'll do my best, but it's not like I'm going to look up certain scenes to make sure I get the details all exactly right. 1) I'm lazy, & 2) well...I'm lazy. Also, there might some scenes out of order, & I'm putting Katie in 7th year. I'm sorry to all of those who I offend, but I mean...it's not like J.K. Rowling really bothered to inform us of the fact until OotP, so, I'm just stuck in my ways I guess. & who doesn't love a Katie in the same year with the twins? Right, well, I'm off my soapbox now. Thanks for reviewing last chapter, & for those of you who said you don't like Melanie...you rock. Haha. See, I sort of based her off this girl I know in real life & um...yeah. Haha. So enjoy the next chappy, & please review if you would.**

_/Little Miss Mary Sunshine..._

_Everybody's favorite girl/_

_--"Mary", Saving Jane_

Melanie was all amazement when we walked into the Great Hall. She kept turning around and staring and pointing at various things. I sort of wished Hogwarts wasn't so clean so maybe a fly or something would buzz right into that wide, gaping mouth. However, I kept my thoughts to myself in case my judgement was a bit premature.

"Oh Em Gee!" she squealed, pointing to the ceiling. "It looks _exactly _like what the sky looked like when we were outside!"

"It's enchanted to look like the sky," I replied dully "Don't wet yourself."

Melanie attempted to laugh, but looked slightly hurt. Fred rescued me. "By the way, Mel," he said, putting his arm around her like she was his younger sister and pointing to me, "She jokes all the time, too."

A look of understanding dawned on her. "Ohhhhh," she said slowly and then laughed. "You're so funny, Katie," she said, grinning.

The sensors in my head that told me something was annoying me started to go off, but I smiled at her anyway. Fred raised his eyebrows at me a couple of times behind Melanie's head to share the moment which we both clearly found funny. I smirked at him and we all sat down at the Gryffindor table. Just as we were starting conversations with others, Georgianna Caruthers, a Ravenclaw and my assistant editor at the Hogwarts Herald, came up to me.

"Katie," she said excitedly, long blonde curls bouncing, "The polls are in! You're the most fashionable in our year for the third year in a row!"

I grinned and gave Angelina and Alicia high-fives. "Thank you," I said, "Thank you very much." I was imitating some old muggle rock star I'd seen on my great aunt Augusta's telefishing box once. Alicia, at least, appreciated it. And so, it seemed, did Melanie.

"Hahahahahaha! Oh, Katie, that was a good one!" she giggled. I looked at her a little, and then forced a smile.

"Thanks," I replied.

"Anyway," Georgianna continued, "I have the rest of the polls for you, if you want to take that article again."

I thought about it. "Yeah, alright," I said. "Editors-in-cheif have to know who's who around the school after all." I grinned, flashing her my news editor badge and attempting to do an impressions of a certain elder Weasley brother who had already left Hogwarts. Georgianna laughed and went back to her table.

"Ooh, Katie, you're the editor of the school newspaper?" Melanie asked excitedly.

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm signed up for that class! You see, I was the editor at my old school. How exciting that we get to work together!"

I could only manage a smile, muttering to myself, "Yeah, that'll be a _real_ peach."

Angelina cast me a glance that warned me to lay off. Before I had the chance to reply however, we were interrupted by Professor McGonogall. I decided to give the old bird some shaking up to start her year off.

"McGonagoll!" I shouted, causing her to leap back a little in surprise. She immediatly composed herself, however, and straightening her glasses said, "Miss Bell, I would do well to remind you that you are on school grounds again, and that kind of overzealousness which is appropriate at quidditch matches may not always be acceptable here."

I ignored that. "You missed me, didn't you, Professor? I know you missed me." I grinned up at he as cheekily as I could manage, gaingin exactly the kind of dry reply I had been aiming for.

"Yes, Miss Bell," she said sardonically. "I was lying on the beach at Seaside thinking, 'What one of my students do I miss the most? Oh yes, the answer is of course Kathryn Bell.' "

I grinned and she rolled her eyes, turning to Melanie. "Miss Crow," she said authoritatively, "If you'll follow me, we'll get you sorted along with the rest of the first years."

"Alright, Ma'am," Melanie said cheerfully, getting up to follow the professor.

As soon as she's disappeared, I let out an audible sigh of relief. George looked at me curiously.

"What?" he asked.

"That girl," I replied. "Melanie. She's kind of daft."

"I don't know about daft," Alicia replied, always trying to be the mediator. "She just doesn't know much, being muggle-born and all. That's just the way I was."

"No," I argued. "At least you were your own person. She seems a little eager to be pleased with everything and having everyone be pleased with her."

"So she's a little sugary sweet," Angelina said. "Big deal. Let's give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she's just trying to make new friends. Besides, no one ever hurt anybody else by being nice."

"Good point, Ange," Fred agreed. "You know, you could use a little sweetness yourself, Kat. Maybe it would do you some good if Miss Melanie Crow got placed in Gryffindor."

I slugged him in the arm.

"Ow!" he cried, pretending to be mortally wounded. "See!" he said, pointing to me. "See what I mean?"

The others laughed, and then Lee put in his opinion. "You know, as much as she migh be a good influence on the girls, I'm really seeing her as more of a Ravenclaw."

I almost spit out my pumpkin juice from laughing. "Ravenclaw?" I cried. "You've got to be kidding. That girl's a Hufflepuff if I've ever seen one."

"Or maybe she has a dark side," George interjected. "Maybe she'll be in Slytherin and end up losing that schoolgirl virginity to Warrington, or someone like that."

The table collectively groaned as Angelina interrupted, "Anyway it goes, she won't be with us. She just doesn't seem to have the stuff to be a--"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Our heads turned to see who the brand new Gryffindor would be and everyone's mouths dropped as Melanie Crow strode over to the table, a giant grin on her face.

"How about that?" she cried as she again joined us. "I'm with you guys! How lucky!"

"How lucky indeed," I said emotionlessly, emptying my pumpkin juice in one swig."

Our first night as seventh years was spent lounging around by the fire and talking aimlessly as Fred and George tried out their wings making some first years perform some ridiculous stunts until Hermione Granger yelled at them to stop. I think if they'd really wanted to keep going they would have, but the annoyance of a bushy haird, bossy fifth year was enought to make them decide it would be better if they didn't. Personally, I was amused, but my opinion didn't really carry much weight with authority. It never had, actually. Maybe I hung out too much with the Weasley twins and Lee. We all seemed to bring out the worst in each other. Especially now that Hermione had gone to bed.

"Make that one act like a duck," I instructed, pointing to a tiny blonde haired girl with glasses that was struggling to convince her friends that it was alright to sit closer to the fire.

"Oy!" Fred called to the girl. She walked over, trying to appear confident but failing miserably as she kept turning around and beckoning urgently to her friends to follow her.

"You want to sit here?" Fred asked her, motioning to our chairs around the fire. She nodded vigorously.

Alicia, who had never much liked this game, said, "Sure you can, sweetie, we can spare room."

"Now hold on a minute, 'Leesh," said George, holding his hand up to silence his girlfried. "We don't know if she's cool enough to sit with us yet."

Fred nodded. "That's right, George. We need to see you perform a task first," he said, addressing the small girl who looked up at him defyingly.

"And what's that?" she retorted.

"Oh-ho!" cried Fred. "I just love the ones who are so eager to show off their Gryffindor spirit, don't you, Lee?"

Lee nodded. "Quite humbling, really, to see them start out so young." He pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. I laughed.

"Now, my friend Katie here would like to see you do a duck," Fred said, pointing to me. "You think you can manage?"

"And why do I have to be a _duck_?" she said, as though daring us to respond.

"I like this one, Fred," I said, laughing.

"Yeah, because she reminds you of you," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Ah, but you asked me out that same first year," I retorted, grinning at him cheekily, to which he responded by injury and said,

"I never really have recovered from that blow, you know." He massaged his heart. "Still hurts--right here. And you know how I'm going to cope with it?" He turned to the girl. "Do a duck if you want to sit here."

"But why?"

"Because Katie wants you to, that's why. And because I'm angry she won't have me."

"So guy buy her flowers or something like a normal person. Big deal."

"I don't like your cheek, Miss," Fred said, obviously starting to get annoyed by the eleven year old that was defying him. "This is more romantic..."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said. "But only because I want to sit there, not to help either of you. She's mean and you're meaner. You're perfect for each other."

We both laughed raucously as George and Lee looked on amused, and Alicia and Angelina exchanged glances, probably debating whether or not they should interfere.

The little blonde girl rolled her eyes and did a very impressive impression of a duck. She even bobbed her head.

"Quaaaaack. Quaaaaaaack!"

We were all dying of laughter by the time she stopped and returned to her feet, not very much taller than she was on her knees. She put her hands on her tiny hips.

"Satisfied?" she asked.

"Yes, very," Fred said, laughing and standing up to give over his chair to the 1st year. She just looked at him.

"Aren't you two gonna kiss?" she asked. "I did what you asked."

We all laughed and Fred grinned at me, raising his eyebrows. I rolled my eyes and gave him a slight peck on the cheek. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Melanie coming down from the stairs and looking slightly surprised. I drew back quickly.

"Better?" I asked.

She looked at me. "I guess."

"I'll settle," Fred said cheerily. "Ah, Dear Miss Melanie! Settled, are we?"

She grinned. "Yeah, actually! This rooms are _so _nice. So much better than my girls' school back home!"

"I'm glad to hear it," George joined in. "Well, I think I'm going to turn in for the night. Have to rest my mind for the scholastic endevours that await me tomorrow."

Alicia laughed. "As if," she said, but kissed him goodnight and stood up herself.

Angelina and Lee also seperated and bid their goodnights. Melanie sat down smiling in front of Fred and I. She was clearly waiting for one of us to begin a conversation. I sort of wished she would go away, but I smiled anyway.

"What bed did you pick?" I asked.

"Ooh, there's this so fun one by the window. I set my stuff up there."

I started a little, and then just said "Oh..."

"Why?" she cried instantly. "Is something wrong with that bed?"

"Oh, no," I said, waving my hand dismissively. "It's no big deal, I'll just...take whatever new one they put it here."

"Oh no!" she said. "Oh gosh, I didn't even think...there were only three! That means I took your spot! Oh Em Gee, what do I do?"

I frowned inwardly, but checked my emotions. "I'll just camp out on the floor I guess...it's no big. Ange will lend me her blanket or something. We'll talk to McGonogall or someone in the morning."

She looked uneasy.

"It's okay, Kate's good about stuff like that," Fred said bracingly, giving me a glance.

"Okay! Great!" she said. "Well, I'll be off to bed then!"

_Finally_.

"Sorry, Kate," Fred said immediately after Melanie exited.

I shrugged. "Whatever..."

"Hey," he said. "I have something for you...it's a toast to our great year we're gonna have. Sort of...I actually just picked it up because I knew they were your favorite. But you can pretend it had more meaning if you want."

He grinned at me.

"Fred, are you serious! You bought me--"

He pulled them out of his bag and tossed them to me.

"Fizzing whizbees!" I cried. "Ah, Fred, you're the best. Thanks."

And I tackled him on the couch in a bear hug which he returned, messing my hair up as well.

"Goodnight, Kate," he laughed, pushing me off the couch.

"'Night, Fred."

In a slightly better mood, I ran up the stairs to the very top where the 7th years slept and opened the door. Angelina and Alicia looked up nervously as I walked in, casting glances on the bed which Melanie was currently occupying. The only thing that surprised me was the way my bed now looked. I stared in shock at the fuzzy pink pillows and stuffed animals that clogged up most of the bedspread. She had muggle pictures of her iceskating, posing with some old people at what looked like a hospital, her giving some free handouts to some scruffy looking people, and her and obviously her best friend. I closed my mouth again, didn't say a word, and started to make up my bed on the floor.

"I'm sorry, Katie, when we got up here..." Alicia whispered.

I shook my head. "It's alright. I'm fine."

"Who's the candy from?" Angelina asked, getting into bed.

"Fred," I replied, placing them safely inside my trunk.

"Ooh, that was nice of him!" Melanie gushed, and then paused. "Katie, are you two a couple? I saw you kiss him on the cheek when I walked down..."

I laughed. "No, we're not." I slightly frowned, realizing that that was the first time I'd ever kissed anyone, even though it was only on the cheek. I was lame. Whatever.

"Oh, good," Melanie said relieved.

We all looked at her strangely. She colored a little.

"Because I think he's sort of cute," she said.


	3. No Sodding Way

**A/N: Sorry for the "flashback" scene; it's kind of an unwritten rule for a cliche fanfic, but uh...I didn't really know how else to relate it. Sorry.**

_/What's the point in telling everybody_

_I'm not over you/_

_--Saving Jane, "Happy"_

As I lay on the cold, hard floor of the dormitory while little Miss Melanie was enjoying all the comfort of my four-poster and her grotesque furry pillows, I began to regret telling everyone that her taking my bed was no problem. I'd been a little upset, but now that the actual point came down to it--and I was freezing my arse off and probably doing equal damage to my back--I was livid. What had she been thinking anyway? _Oh, look, here's three beds for me and the three girls I share a room with! That one looks nice, any of the three MUST be open for me!_ I clenched my fists in anger and viciously bit off a piece of one of my fizzing whizbees. What right did she have? Just because she was new doesn't mean she got away with everything. There had to be some limits drawn. For example, she would stay away from my bed, and I wouldn't put bobutuber puss in her flower patterned cotton underpants. Heh. Just kidding. I didn't know if she had flower patterned cotton underpants. Come to think of it, though, she probably did. I wouldn't be surprised. Me, I preferred more of the little boys shorts variety. Not that it mattered. I could wear a g-string and still manage to hate her. It might make it worse, actually. It sounded painful.

Okay, so I was being a little irrational. I didn't _hate_ her. And it didn't really hack me off that she stole my bed as much as the real reason for my anger did.

"I think Fred's sort of cute." I mimicked the girl in my head and ripped off another piece of whizbee. Who was she to mess with Fred? What made her think that a little Mary Sue of no consequence to anyone but the lonely and the destitute could capture the heart of my--well--one of my best mates? I shook my head. It didn't make sense. All of Fred's civilities toward her since she'd shown up in our compartment flooded through my head and made my blood boil. Why? Because I was uneasy. What if he fell for her? No…even Fred wasn't that daft. Although Fred has been a little daft at times. After all, he had dated Parvati Patil for a couple weeks. We laughed about that now.

Besides, Fred hadn't had a girlfriend for two years now and everyone said that it was because of...well. Whatever. It didn't matter.

Except it did. I sighed. I might as well face the unhappy truth; there was no point in deceiving myself. I didn't want Fred Weasley to be with anybody unless that somebody was me. It was kind of complicated.

Fred had been my best mate from the time we were first years. We spent every summer together and our parents got along particularly well, considering that they'd been friends at Hogwarts, having went their separate ways until their children reunited them. Bit annoying, really. I'd grown sick of the reminisces. In all that time, however, I'd never once considered the fact that Fred might really have meant more to me than I knew. I'd been a bit stupid in that area, but I blame it entirely on Ange and Al because they'd never suggested the possibility that I might have fancied him. That, in my opinion, would have been a best friend duty. They'd certainly seen enough of my rather over-opposition to his choice of female connections and how quick I was to object to anyone he might fancy. That, in itself, really should have been the clue and seeing as how I couldn't interpret that for myself, they should have been the ones to clue me in. I do give them credit for spotting that he might fancy me, however. Though I had laughed it off and vehemently objected to it, at least they had seen it coming. Another area I'd been stupid in…bit odd, really. I was normally so quick at spotting people who might fancy me and even quicker to let them know I was not, under any circumstance, considering giving up my single life any time soon. And so, my partiality for Fred went unnoticed until one day just last summer. I sighed, trying not to remember that I was remembering that day…

"Katie, would you _please _hurry up!" shouted an impatient Angelina outside the bedroom door. Alicia, it would seem, was also rather impatient.

"Please, Kates! I want to see Ge—I mean, daylight, _sometime _today!"

I rolled my eyes. "Would you guys chill?" I yelled back. "You'll see Lee & George soon enough!"

I smiled rather stupidly as I closed up the letter from my latest love interest, Roger Davies. Roger was a bit of a prick when it came to the female species, but he _had_ replied to my letter and it made me very happy. I doubted very much whether he'd read into it what I meant him to, or if he even thought of me in that way, but still…he _had_ written me back. And no two over eager friends were going to ruin that moment for me.

I pulled my ponytail tighter and glanced in the mirror slightly before emerging from the bedroom. We were all staying at the Weasley's for a couple of weeks before they took off to the mysterious beyond that I wasn't allowed to know about(it bothered me even then). We'd been there for about a week already and every afternoon after lunch we'd head up to the hills and play quidditch for a while. It was fun, and as Alicia had developed a huge crush on George over the stay, she particularly enjoyed it. Angelina, of course, was glad to be there with Lee. I just liked the Weasley's. It felt like a second home.

"Pass, George, Pass!" I called, laughing. As soon as we'd started playing, George had convinced Alicia to switch positions with him. It was really rather amusing. George didn't know what to do with the quaffle for his life, and Alicia could barely hold up the beater's bat, let alone swing it at anything.

George looked around wildly for where my voice had come from and flung the quaffle in my direction. It was a bad throw, but I caught it. I laced in between Ginny and Hermione (ahem—not hard) and tossed it to Angelina who threw it again to George, who attempted to throw it at me but instead caught me in the side of my head and, with little attempt at grace, I immediately plummeted to the ground.

"Oi!" shouted Fred, "Katie's down!"

I rolled my eyes as I turned over on the grass and moaned. They all gathered around me and all I said was, "George, you're an arse."

"Sorry," he said, looking torn between laughter and pretended anxiety. "Are you okay?"

"She's fine," Fred said cheerily, offering me his arm. I gladly accepted it and he pulled me up.

"Enough for one day, I think?" he asked me. As I could see two of him at the moment, I consented and the rest began playing again as Fred sat me down on the side of a grassy hill. We watched them play and after I'd begun to feel better, he asked if I wanted to go swimming.

"Swimming?" I asked. "Where?"

He shrugged. "I think there's a pond up the hill."

"Think?" I said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Don't cop an attitude with me," he said, pretending to be offended. "I was simply trying to create a diversion for the recent collision to your cranium you suffered by—er—"

I laughed. "Stop while you're ahead, Fred. That's quite good enough. I'm coming."

Without bothering to tell anyone where we were going, Fred and I took off down a path in the neighboring woods.

"Merlin, it's hot out here," I complained, swatting at a mosquito that was buzzing at my ear.

Fred grinned devilishly. "You could always take off your clothes, you know."

I kicked dirt at him. "Quit being a pervert," I said.

He shrugged. "Didn't mean to offend."

I rolled my eyes, but began to strip off my track pants to reveal the cutoffs underneath. As I was lifting my shirt off my head, I saw Fred's eyes turn to observe the bright pink bikini top I was wearing. He looked at me curiously.

"What?" I asked, annoyed. "I was following your advice."

He raised his hands as if in surrender. "I have no complaints," he said. "I don't think I've ever seen you in so little clothing."

I crossed over across the path and pushed him.

"Hey!" he shouted. "What's this?"

"I'm teaching you some manners is what this is," I shouted, laughing. "What makes you think you can remark on your best friend's body?"

"Normally, Kate, I wouldn't attempt it," he said, shoving me back into a bush. "But since when have you gotten so foxy?"

Provoked farther by this comment and the realization that the bush I was now sitting in was poison ivy, I leaped up and grabbed a hold of both of Fred's hands and began to shove him backwards along the path.

"Don't you _ever_," I panted, "do that again! It's _weird_."

"Well, then quit _shoving_ me," he said, pushing me away. I immediately ran back to him and began pushing again. I was well aware that I was nowhere near as strong as he was, but it seemed like he was giving me a break in the spirit of the game.

After another few meters of shoving, I stepped back, exhausted. "Alright," I said finally, "Let's see you then."

"What"? Fred asked, confused.

"Come on. If this is so entertaining for you to see me in a swim suit top, I think I'm entitled to see what you look like under those clothes." I bit my tongue after I said this, but was soon gratified, by the six pack that was staring me in the face. My jaw dropped. _Who knew all that was under there_?

"Now it looks as though you're the one staring, Kate," he said, grinning. I closed my mouth.

"I was not," I said.

"Was _too_," he argued, shoving me a little.

"Was _not_!" I yelled, pushing him with all my force. I must have caught him off guard because he stumbled and fell into the some bushes. As he struggled to get up, I stepped over him into the clearing he'd created.

"Fred," I said, "I found the pond."

And I had. There was a rather decent sized pond before us covered in moss and cat tails and all sorts of unpleasant things only he and George would find acceptable. I stepped back.

"I'm not going in that," I declared.

"What?" he said, looking at me strangely, "You're going to back out now?"

"Fred!" I said, "Look!"

"I know, it's great! Look, Kate, it's even got a raft!"

I stared at him. "No way," mouthed.

"Yes," he said, pushing me toward the pond.

"No!" I shouted, shoving him the opposite direction.

"Yes! And you know you're going to lose on this one, Kates,"

"Don't call me Kates! And quit—_pushing_!_"_

"Not until you're in!...Kates."

"Shut _up_!"

"Go _in_!"

And he pushed me so violently that I tottered on the edge, grabbed him tight to me, and had time to yell, "We're goin' down!" before we hit the water.

I emerged, grasping the side of the raft glaring at him.

He grinned. "You've got a seaweed in your hair," he said.

"I hate you," I said.

"No you don't," he grinned. "It feels better in here and you know it."

I hated to admit that he was right. Instead I removed the long slimy weed from my head on placed it on his own.

"Oh," he said, looking down at me, "So that's how we're going to be, are we?"

I laughed. "Oh, that's how we're going to be!"

"Fine!"

Fred grabbed me around my waist and set me on top of his shoulders.

"Ever wanted to feel what it's like to be a broomstick?" he asked.

"Fred!" I yelped, "Put me down! I'm going to break—er—_something_!"

It was no use to try and reason with him. I got launched. When I came up, sputtering for air, he was doubled over laughing. Angry, I swam over attempting to attack him most violently when I reached him, but he scrambled up onto the raft before I could.

"Coward!" I shouted. "You're cheating!"

"If I hadn't, you would have kicked me—most likely in my manhood—and so I think you can see that there really isn't any reason for me _not _to cheat."

I scowled. "I'm commandeering this raft," I declared, grabbing onto the sides.

"I'd like to see you try," Fred laughed.

With all of my strength, I managed to tip the raft just enough so that Fred toppled off and I had time to scramble on. This time, it was his turn to come up sputtering for air while I grinned in his face. He laughed.

"Okay, Kate, you win this time." He offered his hand for a high-five. I gratefully accepted.

"Thank you," I said snootily. "Nice to see you know who your superiors are."

He just smiled. "I like you like this, Kate," he said after a pause.

I looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"You know, like this," he said, looking up at me simply. "When you're Katie—just Katie. None of that fancy, popular, editor-in-chief, best dressed, debutante Kathryn Bell stuff that you are at school."

I laughed. "You're being ridiculous," I said. "I'm not popular, and I'm certainly not a debutante. I'd expect _you _of all people to know that about me. Elona Everclear and her team Abercrombie and Witch hate me. You know that. I'm not any of that stuff. You're being a prat."

He shrugged. "I know that, but—it's hard to remember. You just—get a lot of attention from people. It's hard to get near you."

I stared. "Fred, I'm always with you. We're best mates."

"Not _really _with me. You're always working on your next article, or planning the next social event for that stupid board you're on. Or—flirting with some random bloke."

I was taken really off guard by these comments. It certainly wasn't like Fred to be jealous of my life. He made fun of it just about as much as I did.

"I don't _flirt_," I said, ruefully. "How am I supposed to flirt if I don't fancy anybody, which, as you know, I never do."

He raised an eyebrow. "Roger Davies?"

I blushed and raised my hands in surrender. "Okay, you win…but…was it that obvious? I mean, really."

"I _am _your best mate, as you said yourself, Katie. I notice these things." He grinned cheerily, attempting to play it off.

I wasn't stupid. My mind jumped back immediately to Angelina and Alicia's hints as to Fred's fancying me. I'd laughed it off at the time, but now I wasn't so sure. I looked at Fred, perhaps, a little too long. His eyes were making my stomach do funny things. I dismissed it as some bugger of a biohazard in the pond.

"You know what's funny?" he asked after a while, placing his arms on the side of the raft and moving in closer to where I was leaning over the edge. "This is the first time we've been alone together without my family being involved."

I thought about this. Yes, it was pretty much true. When I was at his house, there was always two or more Weasleys poking around us, and at school there was always George. This really was the first time we'd hung out together—for an extended period of time—without some odd member of his family being present.

I found myself saying things without thinking about them again.

"I kind of like it," I said softly. _Bloody Merlin. What did I just say?_

"Me too," he answered.

His lips were very close. Perhaps too close for my weak defense system. Never mind—the defense system had completely shut down. Fred Weasley as my first kiss and boyfriend sounded amazing. I let my head fall down slightly as he rose up. Yes, it all sounded perfect to me until I heard a gun.

"Dad-blasted kids!"

Both our heads whipped around to find an old muggle in trousers clutching that ridiculous contraption called a BB-gun (Alicia had showed us one once) and pointing it straight at us.

"Get off my property!" he shouted angrily.

"Sorry, sir," Fred replied, obviously attempting not to laugh. "We'll-ah—be off in a moment."

"You'd better!" he shouted. "Or I'm calling the authorities!"

"Oh, bugger off," Fred shot nastily. The old man gave us the bird and ambled off back through the trees.

Fred laughed, turning back to me. "Now, where were we?" he asked, grinning.

"Leaving," I said coldly, stepping off the raft onto the edge of the pond that we'd managed to float toward. I grabbed my things. "You didn't tell me the pond wasn't yours."

"Katie, _what_?" he said, confused, following me out. "You're being ridiculous—George and I found it one day. How were we supposed to know it belonged to someone?"

I shook my head. It wasn't that that had mattered, really. It was just that the magic was gone. The moment was gone. I couldn't do it. It was stupid.

I sighed again loudly as I rolled over on the floor, shivering in my blankets. That was it. That was all. I'd been in love with Fred Weasley ever since, too embarrassed to repent my stupid behavior to him, neither of us bringing up that day to each other since. Angelina and Alicia knew all about now, of course, and I'm sure George and Lee had had their share of the story. Merlin knew they talked about it together enough.

And now Melanie Crow wanted to ruin all of that; ruin the casual and not so casual flirting we'd enjoyed since. Ruin my first and last chance to get a boyfriend before reaching the age of nineteen.

No. Sodding. Way.


	4. I mean, GOSH!

**A/N: More of a filler chappy than anything, but I hope you like it anyway. Don't look for too many updates, it's only the second day of school & I'm already swamped ( I promise I'll do my best to work on this, though. Depending on the type of reviews I get, of course…)**

_/I'm having a day from Hell,_

_It was all going so well_

_Before you came/_

_--"Heavily Broken", The Veronicas_

I woke up the next morning feeling rather drugged. Sort of the way you feel when Madame Pomfrey force feeds you Pepper-Up Potion when you only just pretended to feel sick to get out of your potions final. Ahem. Not that I would know.

In any case, the morning wasn't pleasant as I woke up to someone humming a wretched Celestina Warbeck song. "Will someone shut the bloody prat _up_!" I moaned angrily from inside my mound of blankets.

"Sorry, Katie!" said a cheerful voice. "I didn't mean to wake you. It's just I found this really great singer I liked in Diagon Alley a few weeks ago."

"Mmm," I replied, annoyed. People who like Celestina Warbeck are either old or nutters. Or have the soul of an old, unmarried woman _in addition_ to being nutters. Which, upon reflection, I decided was Melanie's case.

"Shouldn't you be getting up anyway?" she said. "I mean, I'm no expert, but it seems as though it's getting kind of late…"

"That it is, Melanie, that it is," I growled, shoving my blankets out of the way. I rummaged through my trunk to find a toothbrush and marched into the bathroom.

"Whoa!" said Angelina, greeting me as I stormed in. "What are you doing up so early? You usually wait until you have to rush through everything to move your body."

"Ask Miss Sunshine," I replied grouchily, shoving the toothbrush into my mouth. Alicia was drying her hair.

"You have to at least _try _to get along with her, Katie," she said. "After all, she'll be living here for the next year."

I spit into the sink. "Yeah," I said. "In my bed."

"That sounded sexual," Alicia teased. "I knew you liked her."

I glowered into the mirror in Alicia's direction. "Since when do you come up with witty comebacks?" I asked. "I thought you were the blonde one."

Angelina rolled her eyes. "Don't mind her, 'Leesh, she's just grumpy because Melanie's made a play for dear Freddy."

I slammed my toothbrush down. "What is _with _you two!" I shouted. "Can't I be in a bad mood without Fred being involved?"

They exchanged glances. "No, not really," Angelina said.

I stared at them for a minute and then shrugged. It was true enough. I tugged my hair into a ponytail as Angelina and Alicia exited the bathroom. As I began to straighten my normally curly hair with a charm, Melanie walked in. I let no other trace of emotion other than a quick release of air come through.

"Hi, Katie!" she said cheerfully.

"G'morning," I mumbled.

"Not a morning person?" she asked, smiling.

"No," I said shortly.

She made the "mmm" noise and began brushing her hair.

I took the occasion, as I was applying mascara, to observe her from time to time. I was sizing up her looks in comparison to mine. I found a lot to annoy me. First off, she wasn't a blonde with a cute nose, and she didn't have a sultry, sexy look. If she was, I could criticize her easily. It was quite easy to abuse someone's looks when they were completely different from your own. After all, they were a different style. Unfortunately for me, Melanie had all the same characteristics as I did. Dark brown hair, green eyes, and the same shade of olive skin. The only thing I could hate her for was being tall. Unfortunately, it was no secret that height was associated with "hott" and short could only stretch as far as being "cute". Melanie smiled at me as she ran the brush through her (okay, longer than mine) hair. It shone. I frowned.

"Is something wrong, Katie?"

_Honestly, is it really necessary for the girl to use my name even when I'm the only other one in the bathroom?_

"No," I said stiffly, returning to my own reflection. I put on makeup and felt a little bit better. At least that was one difference between us. Still, I would always have to hate her for being one of those girls who somehow always managed to look nice even though they'd probably never held an eyeliner pencil in their life. I walked out without saying a word.

At breakfast I purposefully seated myself next to Fred. He looked a little amused to see me there.

"You're on time, Kate?" he asked, grinning. "What's going on?"

"Yeah, well, it _is_ a new year," I said, picking up a piece of toast off the platter. "I might as well start off on the right foot, right?"

"_Melanie _woke her up," Alicia supplied, giving a meaningful look as she sat down next to George. I scowled at her.

"Ahh," Fred said discerningly. "That would explain the violent butter spreading."

Everyone laughed as I instantly dropped the knife I had been clenching and grasped my head with both hands. Fred ran his fingers through my hair and muttered something soothing in my ear that made my eyebrows raise…But no, it was just my imagination.

Melanie showed up a few minutes later, halo in hand and unassuming smile on her face. Angelina, who had offered to wait for her, plopped herself down next to Lee and immediately started flipping her hair and making sex faces at her boyfriend. I rolled my eyes and looked the other direction. Melanie was still standing and biting her lip, as though she didn't yet know where to sit. Fred smiled benevolently and slapped his hand down on the seat on the other side of him. Melanie, looking both immensely pleased and relieved, immediately sat down and started her friendly inquiries.

"Sleep well, Fred?" she asked pleasantly, helping herself to a bowl of all-grain cereal. Fred caught my eye and winked before saying,

"Yes, quite pleasant, my dearest. In fact, even more so than usual. I had a dream I was dating you." He grinned cheekily and Melanie immediately blushed a deep pink.

"I-" she stammered.

"He's _kidding_," I said rather coldly, from across Fred's shoulder.

"O-oh," she said, looking down. "Right."

Fred gave me a look. "Ease off a little, will you?" he whispered. "I'm trying to lighten her up so you won't be living in Hell for the rest of the year."

I looked away, feeling a little guilty. "Sorry," I muttered.

He clapped me on the back and I sighed, resting my chin on my arms. It was going to be a long day.

Transfiguration passed by with little event, unless you counted Alicia's yelp because George had pinched her arse as she returned to her seat from a bathroom break, or the scratching of Melanie's eager quill as she wrote down every syllable uttered by McGonagall, including the many "Mr. Weasley, kindly don't touch that"s. I spent the class period shredding little bits of paper supplied to me by Lee after I realized Melanie had taken several courses during the summer to prepare her for seventh year work. Apparently, she was bright. Bright airheads were my least favorite kind. When Fred asked what I was doing, I lied and said I was upset about having to be in class again. I don't think he bought it, but he shrugged without saying anything and I wasn't going to push the envelope. So much for confiding in your best mate. Lee handed me another piece of parchment wordlessly as I began dissolving the minute shreds left with my thumb. _Now there was a man to look up to. _I admired Angelina's taste immensely.

The bell rang and I stood up to leave, but not before McGonagall could say, "Miss Bell, you would do us a great honor if you could clean up the mess you've been making instead of taking notes."

I immediately reached back into my brain for a loveable entreaty to excuse me from said mess as I didn't want to be late to newspaper of which I was, in fact, editor, when Melanie cheerfully stepped forward and said, "Don't worry, Proffesor, I can help Katie! I have notes for her as well, if she wants them." Professor McGonagoll looked at the two of us for a moment and then nodded.

I swore under my breath as I stooped over to sweep up the tiny bits of parchment.

Melanie sighed. "Katie, I hate to seem forward in asking you this, but could you please not swear around me? I'm trying to cut that sort of stuff from my mind, you know."

I breathed in and counted to three as Fred had suggested and then smiled simperingly. "Sure thing, Mel, would you like me to do anything else for you?"

She missed the sarcasm. "Umm…nope!" she said, laughing. "You're a great friend, Katie."

Okay, so, in spite of the fact that I claim to have no feelings other than cynicism, that got to me. I made a fresh resolve to start anew.

She tagged along with me on our way up to the tower where the offices of the _Herald_ were located. I even introduced her to Professor Malone. My goodwill stopped there, however, as I left her to retell her charming story for the hundredth time to go join Georgianna Caruthers.

"So what's the scoop, Georgianna?" I asked, dropping my bag next to me. "Did Malone give us a project yet?"

"No," she replied, putting on a set of glasses and pulling out a notepad. "We've been waiting for you to get here. What on earth is that girl doing here, by the way? Are you two friends or something now?"

I rolled my eyes. "George, please. No, she's joining the team…"

She looked at me narrowly. "You're kidding, right?"

I shook my head. "Special permission from McGonagoll and Malone. Apparently she submitted a piece of her own work and it was 'exemplary'."

"Ohhhh," Georgianna said. "Well, just don't assign her to work with me."

I laughed as Melanie eagerly sat beside me and Professor Malone stood in front of the class. "Now that we're all _here_," she said, eyeing me closely, "I'd like to let our editor start things off."

I smiled as I took a spot in front of my team and began my beginning of the year speech.

"Okay, crew," I said. "I'm really excited about this year because, as you know, it's my last and I want everything here to be better than it ever was before!"

Applause. _They love their dear editor, I know._

"Cool, so, I've made up this list of things I'd like each of you to cover for this week's issue. I know it's going to be tough, just coming out of holidays, but—"

My eyes were distracted by the waving of Melanie's hand.

"Katie?" she said. I blinked.

"Yes, Melanie?" I said stiffly.

"If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to take up the beat on Umbridge?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, blankly.

"Well, you know…since she's new I'd like to cover her. At least to start with. I took notes during her speech for you because you were sleeping—"

Everyone laughed and I stiffened.

"Okay, fine!" I said loudly. "Take Umbridge." No like I wanted that old hag anyway. And I certainly didn't want to burden any of my crew by giving her to them. Unless that someone was Zacharias Smith, of course.

"Katie," he said loudly, "I would have thought you would have taken notes during her speech, being editor and all. What gives?"

The rest of the class looked up to see how I would react. I was calm, however.

"I don't know that you noticed the speech, Smith," I said placidly. "In fact, I'm surprised you feel qualified to mention it at all—you were snogging a third year at the time."

That shut him up. The class laughed and Professor Malone gently but firmly placed a hand on my shoulder.

"That will be all, Miss Bell, thank you."

I sat down. Georgianna gave me a thumbs up and Melanie supplied another of her "You're sooo funny, Katie!"s.

"I'd like to welcome everyone to another new year," Malone began. "As you know, we all have our individual beats to get in by next Wednesday, so be working hard on that, but, as a new tradition, I've decided to hold a party. A little kick-off, if you will, in hopes of starting a good year. Probably nothing too fancy, just a little social get together, probably with some dancing. You're free to bring a date if you wish."

I rolled my eyes. _Great, another opportunity for me to see the dating success of the rest of the world and pretend I don't care. Just lovely. A peach._

Angelina oversaw a tough quidditch practice that night and we were all exhausted by the time she finally let us go to bed. It felt good to let some of the rougher spots of the day out as I scored goal after goal (okay, so we didn't have a keeper yet, but whatever) and sped throughout the pitch. Sweaty and tired, we ambled back toward the locker rooms. Fred threw his arm around me as we walked back.

"Merlin, I'm tired," he complained.

"You're telling me," I said. "And you didn't even have to put up with—" I stopped myself.

He grinned. "Wow, Katie, I mean…gosh! You're not saying you had a really had a hard time with someone today, are you? Because I would feel dreadfully awful if—"

I laughed and shoved him away, content that I was in no danger of losing my best friend to Melanie Crow.


	5. Shi ite Muslims?

**A/N: **

**A/N: I almost gave up on writing this story, having only gotten 4 reviews on the past chapter. AHEM. But I've decided to continue it for my own amusement. So, Katie, this is dedicated to you for being so brilliant.**

_/She may be the angel who spends all winter_

_Bringing the homeless blankets & dinner,_

_She may be the Nobel Peace Prize Winner,_

_But I don't like her._

_Lord, I know it ain't Christian to judge a stranger,_

_But I really hate her.  
I'll think of a reason later/_

_--Leann Womack, "I'll Think of a Reason Later"_

Angelina, Alicia, and I were all sitting cross-legged on Ange's bed eating chocolate frogs and discussing the day's events. Ange was gushing about just how amazing Lee was and how she couldn't believe she'd actually resisted him "all these years", he was so cute, and so on and so forth.

"I mean, honestly, who would expect he'd have brought me flowers after our first quidditch practice of the year? Just as a good luck gesture?"

Alicia smiled. "It's because you're so irresistible, Angel!"

Angelina laughed and tossed her head back. "No," she said shortly, "It's because he's sweet."

"Or he wants to get into your pants," I suggested, thoughtfully biting a piece off of my chocolate frog. The joyful expulsions of dating bliss were making me nauseous.

Ange whacked me across the back of the head with a pillow. "Shove it, Katie," she said, laughing.

I yelped and threw my half eaten chocolate lump at her. Alicia grabbed me.

"Ah, not tonight, Kates," she said. "It's still the first week."

"You're referring to the alleged mess making, are you not?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Alleged," Angelina scoffed.

I rolled my eyes as Alicia released me.

"So," I said.

"So, you still have to tell Fred thanks for me sometime," she said. "Without him asking me to the Yule Ball last year as a way to get Lee moving, I don't think I would have ever have been this happy!"

I laughed. "Why don't you just tell him yourself?"

She shrugged. "He listens to you. I can tell he's tuning me out ten seconds after I start talking."

"That's because all you talk about is how you want to snog his best friend!" Alicia laughed, much to Ange's dismay.

They both giggled into their pillows and began turning the pages of _Teenage Witch_ to find some kind of seduction potion. Sketchy at best, but I was zoning out for other reasons.

My mind was about an hour behind, back on the couch in the common room where Fred had consistently been either running his fingers through my hair or tracing little patterns on my back. It wasn't fair that I still got shivers from his touch when he so clearly thought I wasn't interested in him. I sighed, wondering what was going on in his head. I'd give a galleon just for a fraction of insight into that redheaded skull of his. I wanted to ask my friends what they thought, but that obviously wasn't an option at the moment.

"Look at this one!" Alicia squealed, pointing eagerly at a random page in the magazine. "It actually _doubles_ the size of his—"

"Knock it off!" I yelled, stuffing my fingers in my ears. "I don't want to hear it!"

"I don't see why not, Katie," Angelina said sensibly. "George is Fred's twin, which means they really ought to be similar and so you really ought to be—"

"Well, I'm not," I said shortly. "Might I remind you that even _if _Fred and I were together, I would _not, _under any circumstance, be thinking about _that_."

"You know for as much as you hate her, you're starting to sound like Melanie," Alicia said, giving me a strange look.

I ignored that. "Where is she anyway?" I asked, looking around a little nervously.

"She's not with Fred," Angelina said, rolling her eyes. "I think she's doing volunteer work in the hospital wing."

"Oh," I said, breathing a little again. "That's predictable. It's weird though, isn't it? A girl like that being interested in Fred?"

Alicia shrugged. "I don't know," she said thoughtfully. "They're kind of opposites, aren't they? And you know what they say about opposites. I mean, look at George and me."

I sighed, looking down and fiddling with the ring on my finger. "You're probably right…" I trailed off.

"Don't worry about it, Kat," Angelina said bracingly. "I wouldn't say Alicia and George are _complete_ opposites. You just heard what she was talking about—and I bet Melanie doesn't even know those things _exist._"

We laughed. "So you think I still stand a chance then?" I asked.

Ange rolled her eyes. "I was snogging Lee for half the night, but I still managed to catch that little bout of physical contact he initiated. He still loves you."

Alicia nodded vigorously, and I punched the air excitedly.

"Welp!" I cried, "I could actually ask him to this journalism party we're having. I'd actually go with a date for once in my Hogwarts career."

Just as I was contemplating how I would go about asking Fred, Melanie burst through the door excitedly, spilling all her books on the floor.

"You guys will never guess my good luck!" she squealed as she bent down and hurriedly picked them up.

"You got to wash seven bed pans instead of six tonight?" I asked dully. Alicia snickered and Angelina hit me from behind. It didn't dawn on Melanie, however.

"No," she said. "There aren't that many patients there yet. Madame Pomfrey said it should pick up soon, though, which is nice to hear. But that's not my good news! Katie, remember that party our newspaper professor was talking about today?"

"Yes…" I said slowly, eyeing her carefully.

"Well, I don't know what came over me, but Fred was helping me through the portrait hole just now because I was having trouble and I sort of--asked him to go with me!"

"And what did he sort of say?" I asked slowly, though I was sure by her countenance that I already knew the answer.

She giggled. "Oh Katie, you're so funny!" she said. "But he said yes! He actually said yes and that he'd _love_ to go with me!"

"He really said that? He really used to word 'love'?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed, dropping her books again. "This is the best day of my life!"

It was silent and I could feel Angelina and Alicia looking at me concernedly, though I didn't turn around.

"And he just said yes, for sure? Just now?" I asked, failing miserably at keeping any hostility out of my voice.

"Yes!" she cried happily, flopping down on her (my) bed and rubbing noses with a small stuffed rabbit.

"Shi—" I started to say, but Melanie's head snapped up and she eyed me. "Shi—ite Muslims!" I said, glancing at Angelina and Alicia for support. "I'd like you to do an article on them, Melanie, if you get time. I think our Hogwarts population of Shiite Muslims has skyrocketed this past year."

She nodded, happily. "Sure thing, Katie. Do you want me to tackle that first or Umbridge's sp—Katie?"

But I had walked out of the room. Shutting the door behind me, I immediately marched down the stairs to the common room. Upon seeing no one there but George, I crossed the room and stood in front of him.

"George Frederick Weasley!" I said angrily, balling my hands into fists.

"Are you sure it's George Frederick you're wanting and not Frederick George?" he smirked. "Because he's upstairs and is, after all, the one who agreed to go to your journalism thing with Miss Melanie, not I."

"I hate your middle names," I said angrily. "And wipe that smirk off your face. Why did he say yes to her?"

George shrugged. "She's kind of foxy, mate. And not that I don't love you, but you _can_ be intimidating sometimes."

"But she's ridiculous!" I shouted, throwing my hands in the air.

"And Fred is a bloke," said George calmly. "We think with _these_," he continued, patting his crotch lovingly. "Not with _these_." He pointed to his head.

I considered decking him for a moment, but just sighed and sat down on the couch next to him. "Silly me," I said, tucking my hair behind my ear. "And I always thought that one had some brains."

"Life's tough, love," he said, patting my head. I glared at him and he immediately withdrew.

"Alright, alright," he said, throwing his arm around me. "Melanie is a sodding phony and Fred's a wanker for dating her. Does that make you feel any better."

"No," I said, removing George's arm. "Because she's not a sodding phony—she really _is _the way she is—and Fred can't be a wanker. If he was, I wouldn't care about him."

George sighed, abandoning his playfulness. "I'm sorry, Kate," he said sincerely. "Do you want me to find out what's going on?"

I nodded.

"Alright," he said. "Consider it done. For now, you ought to be getting some sleep. I'm rooting for you, love," he said, smiling.

I returned the gesture. "Thanks loads, George," I said, hugging him.

"Don't worry about it," he said, kissing me on the top of the head. He paused and we both stared at each other.

"Right," he said. "You could always not mention that to Alicia."

I laughed. "Consider it done. But for now, you ought to be getting some sleep."

He grinned. "It's a deal. See in the morning, Bell."

George trotted off up the stairs, but I remained seated by the fire. Finding out exactly what was going on in Fred's brain would be nice, but it wasn't going to solve the current issue. I began to smile mischievously as a brilliant, but not so benevolent, plan formulated inside my head.


	6. George, You're Fired!

**A/N: I only got 4 reviews again, & that chapter actually had content. PLEEEEEEASE take the time to press that stupid little button the bottom of the page! It really does keep me writing, despite what you think. I know you read it, my hits are through the roof, but PLEASE take the time to review. I produce better stuff when you do. PLEASE. Okay, done being pathetic.**

_/I'm on fire_

_& the day is feeling hopeless/_

_--Something Corporate, "Break Myself"_

It was morning and, once again, I was alone in the bathroom with Miss Mary Sunshine. Except today, I wasn't in such a bad mood. I had the thrilling prospects of a not so nice plan running through my head. I just needed to think up a casual way to bring up the newspaper party without seeming too obvious. Fortunately, however, Melanie chose the subject herself.

"Have you found a date for tonight yet, Katie?" she asked curiously, running a brush through that shiny hair of hers. Someday I swear I'll chop it off.

"No," I said, as unconcernedly as possible. "I never go with dates to these sorts of things."

She stared at me with all the wonder of a girl who's just had her first crush. "Why?" she asked, dumbfounded.

"Because," I said, trying to imitate the air of someone who was imparting wisdom to the inexperienced, "it's more fashionable to go single."

"But why?" she repeated, laying aside the hairbrush.

I continued to apply mascara. "Melanie," I said, "it looks ridiculous for successful girls to go to parties with dates. It makes them seem dependent; like they need other people's approval. You project a much better self-image by appearing totally independent and un-woo-able to the opposite sex."

"Ohhh," she said, suddenly looking worried. I seized the moment.

"Frankly," I said, doing my best to look concerned, "That's why I was so surprised you told us you were going with Fred last night. I had assumed you would join me in going stag, but…well. That's alright. To each her own."

I pressed the eyelash curler down and appeared to be casually unaffected while I watched my magic take its course.

"Katie?" she said suddenly.

"Yes?" I asked, turning toward her. "Is something wrong? You don't seem well."

"I just—well, do you think I should cancel the date with Fred?"

I laughed a little. "Don't be ridiculous. You like him, remember?"

"I do," she admitted, "But I wouldn't want to appear unfashionable—especially at a new school! And you definitely know what you're talking about. You're the most fashionable girl in the whole school! You're practically my role model."

_Okay, so, these last few words hurt a bit. But it was for the better good, wasn't it?_ I had to go in for the kill.

"Melanie, if you think it over and decide that going on one, tiny little date with Fred is inferior to getting the right beginning to your social career, by all means, break the date. But I really think you _do _want to go with him."

"Oh no!" she exclaimed. "I mean—well, I do, but…he's only one boy. Going single means I'll get to dance with lots of boys, right? And I'll be fashionable. Besides, there's plenty of opportunities to date him, I think."

"You're right," I said, inwardly smiling at my sheer brilliance. "I'm quite proud of you."

"Okay," she said resolutely. "I'll go break the date with Fred now."

"Excellent," I said, more to myself than to Melanie. "Very excellent."

I skipped breakfast that morning because I knew if I witnessed even the appearance of Melanie and Fred's conversation I would betray myself. I'd never been a good liar. That's why I was always McGonagall's favorite. _Ahem. Note sarcasm_. So, I showed up in Transfiguration looking especially spiffy, if I do say so myself.

I sat down, as I usually do, five seconds before the bell rang. I sit behind Fred and next to Angelina. Melanie, thankfully, is in another corner of the room. I was completely content with the way the day was going so far until I saw Fred's face. He turned around in his chair to greet me, but he looked a lot more miserable than usual. I mouthed "What's wrong?", even though I already knew the answer. Fred opened his mouth, but not in time to escape McGonagall's "Mr. Weasley, please face the front. I'd like to begin class."

I was sad that Fred complied without even a saucy answer to dish back to her. I began to feel very dejected about what I had done. I maneuvered in my seat just enough so that I could see Melanie. She had a very self-satisfied smile on her face. _Probably thinks she's 'the next big thing' now that she's ditched Fred. That's pants._

I sighed. Oh well. There was no point in feeling guilty. It was for Fred's own good, he just didn't know it yet. Besides, I felt myself very ill-used, having been clearly flirted with only the night before. What was he playing at anyway?

I therefore survived Transfiguration quite cheerfully, though that threatened to take a sharp decrease when I accidentally-on-purpose transfigured McGonagall's tight bun into a pastry and an owl delivering a hall pass started pecking at the top of her head. I sort of got detention for that. But it made Fred laugh, which sort of pegged him as a co-conspirator in McGonagall's eyes, and he got detention, too. Which was fine. I even thanked her for it.

She looked at me strangely. "Seven years of teaching you, Miss Bell, still has not taught me to figure out your thought process."

I thanked her warmly. "It's nice to be thought an enigma," I said cheerfully.

McGonagall closed her eyes and looked like she was counting to three. Apparently it's a common thing. She then shook her head and walked away. I grinned and Angelina rolled her eyes. Lee gave me a thumbs-up, however, and I was gratified. And I had no doubt of Melanie's finding it "_sooo _funny" because everything I did was to her, it seemed.

I wasn't allowed to sit by Fred in Charms because of a previous incident with a toucan, so as of yesterday George and I had been partners. Alicia was a bit put out, having been stuck with some Hufflepuff boy named Wellington who was a real duffer. I think he'd liked her at the time we'd chosen permanent partners back in 2nd year and she was still Alicia, even back then, and couldn't deny anybody anything. George's partner refused him this year because George permanently turned his finger into a sausage the previous year. He still has a girlfriend, though. Odd that sausage finger is getting banged every night whilst I am still a lowly member of the 'Never Been Kissed' club. I hate irony.

I was fighting to stay awake as we discussed a review of the summoning and vanishing charms when Ernie McMillan, some Hufflepuff ponce that managed to get into seventh year potions, tapped me on the shoulder.

"What?" I hissed. I hate Hufflepuffs. Especially snot nosed fifth year ones that snuck into my class and paraded around as being as smart as me.

He shrugged and handed me a note. I looked around and saw Fred casually glancing out of the corner of his eye from the top row where he was partnered with Melanie, who looked extremely happy about the situation. I wondered vaguely how she'd summoned up enough fortitude to actually deny herself his company for an evening.

I unfolded the note curiously.

**Stay awake, sleeping beauty.**

I smirked and grabbed my quill.

_It would be a lot easier if I didn't have to exhaust myself coming up with possible reasons you're so down today._

I discreetly yawned and stretched, handing the note back to Fred without any difficulty. It came back a few seconds later, reading:

**No one said you had to.**

I rolled my eyes.

_Don't be a prat. What's up with you today?_

**It's not important.**

_Fred, we both know I know you better than that. So give it up. Something's eating at you._

**If you must know, it's George. He's stolen my man-thong and he won't give it back.**

_Oh, ha-ha._

**I told you it wasn't important.**

I cursed at Fred in my head and shoved the note into my bag. The rest of the day passed by with nothing of interest, unless you counted several mutilated drawings of Melanie by yours truly. Fred said little to nothing to anybody and when we were back in our bedroom, Melanie could talk of nothing else besides the affect she had had on him. As most of this was directed at me, I had the unfortunate task of agreeing with her, and answering her questions regarding his usual behavior around girls he liked.

As I was trying to drown my sorrows in _Teenage Witch_, Melanie suddenly accosted me by flopping down on my bed (a spare, now shoved in the corner of the room) and looking at me with, wide earnest eyes.

"What?" I asked, with little civility.

"Katie, Angelina and Alicia told me that you and Fred had some history."

_Traitors!_ "What do you mean?" I asked testily.

"Like, you were boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"No," I said. "We were never together." I returned to my magazine.

"But—they said you liked each other."

"We did," I replied shortly.

"But now?"

I sighed and set it away. "What do you want to know?" I asked finally.

"Well, you know, if it's not too much trouble…What exactly happened between you? I know it seems like prying, but I'm sort of crushing on him and I'd like to know what I'm getting myself into."

_Why did she even have to question if that was prying? Doesn't she know I've only known her for a day? _To avoid having to give an answer either way, I snatched her hand and dragged her off the bed.

"Come on, Melanie!" I said, feigning excitement. "We've got to get ready! It's already six and we don't want to be late for the party!"

She looked at me, confused.

"But Katie," she said, rubbing her wrists where I had yanked probably a little too vigorously, "It doesn't start for another three hours."

"I know!" I cried. "That's why we've got to hurry!"

In all actuality, I probably could have gotten ready in forty-five minutes, but the prospect of escaping Melanie's inquiries drove me to take as much time as possible. I shoved her into a shower fully clothed and yanked on the water (I'm awful, I know), and then got into one myself.

I showered for a good half an hour to make sure that Melanie had left when I got out. She had. I sighed and began ruffling my hair with a towel. When I was alone I always started thinking of Fred, and thinking of Fred wasn't really the best way to get hyped up for a party you were supposedly in charge of. I sighed and tried to excite myself as I picked out clothes. I chose a pink, belted mini skirt and a lacy low cut top. To prevent myself from appearing too trashy, however, I layered it with a pink tank underneath and slipped on a cropped denim jacket over the ensemble. I doubled a long string of pearls and fastened on strangely shaped pink earrings that reminded me of a peacock. What can I say, I have my own style.

I was just drying my hair with a drying spell when none other than George Weasley walked in.

"George!" I shouted. "What in the name of Godric are you doing in a girl's restroom?"

But he was too busy staring at my very short skirt.

"That's a very nice—erm—pink thing that you are wearing," he said, still not removing his eyes from my legs. I rolled my eyes. I mean, really, I have short legs. They're not _that _amazing.

"George," I said authoritatively, directing his chin up to my face, "Might I remind you that you _have_ a girlfriend and that I used to skinny dip with you when we were twelve? You've seen a lot more of me than this."

He waved his hand aside. "You weren't a girl back then. And you weren't…" his chin was dipping again. I sighed and grabbed the pair of sweats I'd been wearing previously and pulled them on under my skirt.

"Can you talk to me like a normal human being capable on conversation now?" I asked, annoyed.

"That was redundant, Katie," he said, completely snapped out of whatever trance he'd been in. "First you said I'd talk and then asked I was capable of conver—"

He stopped when I threw a tube of lipgloss at him.

"What are you doing here anyway?" I asked, straightening my hair. "This is a girl's toilet."

"I might as well ask what _you're_ doing here," he said.

I stared at him. "George, you prick, I _am _a girl!"

"Right. Well, I was looking for Alicia."

"She's through there," I said, rolling my eyes and pointing to the door that led to our dorm.

He started to go, when I stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going, George? Don't you have something to tell me?"

He looked confused. "Um…bye?"

I growled and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. "Fred!" I whispered angrily in his face. "Fred, you arse, Fred! Did you figure it out yet?"

"Oh, that," he said, looking uncomfortable. "Um…the opportune moment hasn't really come up yet and—"

"George!" I said, shoving him away. "I ask you to do one simple thing for me and you can't even come through!"

"I come through for you sometimes! I do lots of nice things for you."

"Like _what_?" I said, sitting on the counter.

"Like…" he was thinking. It looked like hard work. "I took you to the Yule Ball last year!" he finally declared triumphantly.

"George," I said. "You danced with me _once_ and then spent the rest of night mooning over the fact that Roger Davies asked Fleur to be his partner before you did. Davies ended up dancing with me more than you did and that was for one and half songs before Fleur got back from primping in the toilet!"

"But you liked Davies," George argued. "I was doing you a favor."

I sighed. "Whatever, George. You're fired."

"Fired?"

"Yes, fired. Now go snog Alicia."

"I resent that you don't have faith in me," he pouted.

"I resent knowing you!" I said, practically shoving him through the door. "Now go away."

I slammed the door and slid down it to the floor. This was going to be one very long night.


	7. Here's Looking at You, Kid

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, I've gotten more than I had in the previous chapters, so I decided to update sooner. Cool how that works, huh?**

''_I'll keep on driving_

_So we can talk a while._

_I know I could drive all night_

_Just to stay here with you._

_At the end of the night, we'll embrace_

_And look at the star filled night._

_Would it be alright_

_If we didn't say goodbye this time?//_

_--Corey Crowder, "Here's Looking at You, Kid"_

I emerged from the bathroom in very different spirits than those I went in with. It's amazing what a little makeup and hair styling can do for a girl. I'd straightened my dark hair and then pinned it up so it stuck out in various directions from the back of my head. With the addition of a flower, I looked pretty amazing. I went back inside the dorm room to collect Melanie and my mouth dropped when I saw her.

The girl had clearly never been at a party before. She was wearing a plain white, sleeved dress, no makeup, and her long hair just hung at her shoulders. I mean, yes, she was beautiful—she just _happened _to be that way—but honestly.

"Are you—er—_ready_, Melanie?" I asked.

"Yes!" she giggled excitedly, "How do I look?"

Angelina and Alicia were both looking at me expectantly to see if I would live up to my usual degree of bluntness. However, I wasn't certain how to answer their expectations yet. A battle was going on inside of me: If I left Melanie the way she was, she would probably go unnoticed which would draw more attention to me which was, of course, always desirable. Especially if a certain redhead happened to be in the common room when we passed by. But another part of me, "nice Katie", if you will, was somehow wanting to make sure she looked amazing. Kind of an amends for throwing her in the shower fully clothed and other various things I'd done to make her life hell, even if she didn't realize it. I needed to appease my own conscience, and hey, part of me did kind of want to help her out. I chose my words carefully.

"You look nice, Melanie, but do you know what would look even better on you?" I said, watching her eyes light up. This being nice thing did have its benefits.

"What?" she said excitedly.

Okay, so I couldn't be all the way nice. A thought crept into my head of forcing the overly virginal virgin into one of Angelina's more—ah—revealing dresses, just to see how she'd cope. But I didn't. I rifled through my wardrobe and pulled out one of my own dresses. It had a style, a print, a waistline, cap sleeves, and just the slightest plunging neckline. Conservative, yet stylish.

After she put that on, I proceeded to curl the bottoms of her hair and put makeup on her. It was amazing how just the smallest touch of mascara set off her bright eyes. I decided she'd had enough after that.

"Ooh, thanks, Katie!" she cooed. "You're really good at this!"

I was. And I wasn't sure how happy I was about being good at it at the moment. Whatever.

"Let's go, Melanie, the party will have started by now."

Walking down the stairs and through the common room, George was still being an arse and staring at my short skirt but it was Melanie who seemed to be attracting the most attention. Every guy in the room was staring at her outside of George (still gawking) and Lee, who was casually flipping through a magazine. I angrily observed that Fred seemed just as enchanted with Melanie was did the rest of the blockheads in the common room. Wanker.

When we approached to say goodbye, George blabbered and Lee muttered something, giving me a wink as he shifted his eyes toward Melanie. _Have fun with her_, he mouthed. It was great. Even when I couldn't hear him I knew he was being sarcastic. Fred was speaking to Melanie and wishing her a good time; he just nodded to me. I clenched my fists and grabbed Melanie's hand as she was saying her fiftieth goodbye to Fred and basically dragged her out of the portrait hole.

"You don't want to be late for all of those amazing blokes who will want to dance with you, do you?" I asked, trying to get her admiration sparked in another direction.

"Ooh," she said. "Do you really think that they will?" But she still looked back another three or four times before we turned the corner.

I had to hand it to Malone. She did a fairly nice job decorating the Great Hall considering that it was, well, just the Great Hall. We ate breakfast here; and if you were Cho Chang you then proceeded to throw it up in the nearest restroom. Hardly the picture of conjugal felicity. Still, she'd done well for the place. There were lights hanging in various locations around the room, a live band that probably didn't have a recognizable name, and, most importantly, lots and lots of food.

I surveyed the room. Everyone else had dates, except for a few of the ponces that came alone purely for the purpose of scoring with chicks that had no dates. Considering that the only two that didn't were me and Melanie, it appeared like Melanie would be having a lot of fun that night. I never seemed to attract men. Probably because I scowled at them. That would have something to do with it.

Sure enough, about two minutes after we got there, Zacharias Smith came up and asked to dance with her. She giggled and blushed enough to fill the proper quota of engaging a Hogwarts male's affection and left. To anyone else, being alone on a dance floor might have been a mortifying business, but I had grown quite used to it. I mingled with the proper people, made sure everyone was having fun, and congratulated Professor Malone on a job well done. I wasn't really able to relax because I felt some sort of responsibility for the event, but it was fine by me. I liked feeling like I was in charge.

In time, Georgianna walked over with her boyfriend.

"Where's the tosser?" she asked, searching around for Melanie.

"Currently dancing with tosser number two, Cormic McGlaggen," I replied, pointing her out.

"Ah," she said. "I should have known she would have been popular with the males."

"I don't see why bloody not," interjected her boyfriend, Matt. "She's quite the bird."

Georgianna socked him in the stomach. "Go away," she said irritably. "Katie, did you actually do her hair and makeup? What were you thinking? Do you really _want _to drive any possibility of a relationship? You look hott, why did you create competition?"

I sighed. "I don't want _them_," I said pointedly. She surveyed the crowd of wildly dancing blokes; some were acting like ponces, others snogging their girlfriends, and the remainder were gorging themselves at the buffet table. "Really," I said.

She shrugged. "I suppose you're right. Although I wish you would have brought that red headed bloke. You know, the tall one. What's his name? He has a twin."

I rolled my eyes. "His name is _Fred_," I said. "Honestly, Georgianna, everyone knows the Weasley twins."

"I know," she said, affronted. "I just get them confused sometimes. There's so bloody many of them. Anyway, you get along right well. Why didn't you bring him? Then you wouldn't have to be lonely."

"I'm _not_ lonely," I snapped. "I just don't like having dates."

She looked at me for a moment. "Whatever," she said finally, and went off to find Matt.

I pouted a while at the refreshments table before joining a group and dancing, to relieve the annoying feelings that were threatening to take over. Melanie soon hopped over.

"Gosh, Katie," she gushed. "I'm having such a _great_ time, you wouldn't believe! And I've made so many new friends!"

"See?" I said, pleased. "Aren't you glad you didn't bring Fred?"

She bit her lip a little. "I don't know, Katie. Honestly—oh! Here he comes now!"

"Wha?"

I turned around, and sure enough, there was a fairly grumpy looking Fred Weasley striding across the room. With a slight nod to Melanie, he grabbed my wrist and proceeded to drag me to the door. "It's time to go," he said.

"Wait just a minute, you wanker!" I shouted, yanking my hand back and feeling very wrongly surprised. "What's this all about??"

"It's time to _go_," he repeated, as though I were the most clueless person on the planet. That annoyed me.

"Why should I?" I asked. "It's _my _party."

"Yes, you've made that very clear, and that no one else is going to ruin it for you."

"What's _that _supposed to mean?" I asked testily, rubbing my wrist.

"Oh you know bloody well what it means, Katie," he returned. "Now come on, we'll be late."

"Late? For what?" I asked angrily. _What was with him tonight_?

"Detention. We have it from McGonagall, remember?"

Oh, sod it. I'd forgotten. By now a majority of people were staring at us, slightly amused. I could feel my face turn red. Stupid Fred. Now it was I who grabbed his wrist and dragged him outside.

"What was _that_?!"

"What?"

"What did you have to go and do that for? You embarrassed me in front of all of my friends!"

"And you don't think you did the same thing to me?"

"What are you _talking_ about, Fred? Why are you so mad at me??"

"Why do you think?"

I swore. "I _hate _red heads and their stupid tempers," I muttered under my breath.

We shouted all the way down to McGonagall's office. She emerged looking very upset.

"Could you two _try _to keep it down??" she said, sternly. "Believe it or not, a good majority of the castle doesn't care to hear your lovers' spat."

"We're not lovers!" I shouted. Fred glared at me.

"Miss Bell," she hissed, "Don't make me ask you again." Curse McGonagall and her stupid ability to make me be quiet with just a whisper. I folded my arms and was torn between who to throw my glare at. As far as I was concerned, they'd both ruined my evening.

As it was only the third day of class, there wasn't too much McGonagall had found for us to do, so we were stuck with an hour and a half of correcting first year pre-quizzes. "I'll be back to check on both of you at 10:30," she said. "Here are two quills, now get to work."

I frowned and began checking off a particularly dim-witted first year's paper. She was about to leave before noticing Fred's blank look as he stared at the paper. She sighed exasperatedly and handed him an answer key.

"_Honestly_, Mr. Weasley," she said, before closing and locking the door. As soon as I'd heard her footsteps die away, I pushed away the parchment, quill, and inkwell and stared over at Fred.

"Alright, Fred," I said. "What is going on? And don't tell me that I know, because clearly, I don't."

"Melanie," he said finally, narrowing his eyes. "Why did you tell her to break the date?"

I was flabbergasted. That little meddler had let my name leak when I specifically told her not to let that happen.

"She didn't say it was you, if that's what you're thinking," Fred said, seemingly guessing my thought process. "She didn't need to. That scheme had your name written all over it."

I bit my lip. I hate how well he knew me. "I don't know why you wanted to date her, anyway," I said, throwing out the random idea.

"I didn't," he said testily, looking back down at his paper.

He was continuing to surprise me tonight. "Well then why were you so upset all day after she broke it off with you?" I asked, half confused, half annoyed. "And why are you so angry at me for it?"

"Kate, I can see right through you," he said, looking back up at me.

"Y-you can?" I asked, frightened. Oh Merlin, this was bad.

"Yeah," he said. "If you didn't want me to be at the party you could have just said something. You didn't have to find some covert way of getting rid of me."

"I wasn't—"

"The reason I agreed to go with Melanie is so I could hang out with _you_," he said, staring at me. "Look, Kate, just give me a clear answer, will you? Because you really confuse me."

"I—" I stuttered, "I thought you liked Melanie…"

He looked at me, slightly amused. "You're strange sometimes, Kate, you know that, right?"

I nodded sadly. "I'm informed of that at least three times a day," I replied.

He smirked at me and we continued our work in silence. To me, it seemed strained, but Fred didn't seem to take too much to mind about it. I frowned a little and continued to work, making small conversation. I was embarrassed. I had been caught in a pitiful attempt to separate my friend from his devoted admirer, only to find out that I had inadvertently made the night worse for myself. And now, I was sitting in a teacher's office correcting papers when I could have been enjoying the night, dancing and flirting with the bloke that I fancy. I hate irony.

In such a state, I barely noticed McGonagall's entering at her specified time. Nor did I hear what she was saying, and it was only when Fred pried the quill and parchment out of my hands and took my hand to lead me out of the door that I realized detention was over. McGonagall shook her head, clearly exasperated at the pair of us, and shut the door. Once outside, I tried very hard not to notice that he was still holding on to my hand and looking expectantly down at me.

"Well," I said, struggling very hard not to let my voice shake, "Where to now? We could go back to the party and you could reclaim your date with Melanie. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to take you back."

"No, I don't think so," he said easily, starting to walk down the corridor and pulling me along. I felt more like a four-year-old in this situation than a love interest. But hey, was it really my fault I'd never had any practice walking hand in hand? I'll not answer that.

"Well, then where are we going?" I asked, doing my best to slow down so I could catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror. Good, I still looked decent.

He turned around and looked at me. "Well," he said slowly, "the night is young and you're looking very hot—er—pretty, and going back to your party would involve an awkward situation for me, so I'd like to be somewhere alone with you, if you don't object."

He grinned at me and how uncomfortable I was. "I don't," I said finally.

"Good."

And he continued to pull me along, through the double doors and outside into the night. I could see the party humming along nicely through the windows. Fred brought me around to the courtyard that had been built for last year's Yule Ball, and over to a nice grassy hill where we both sat down.

As a rule, I hated this courtyard. I'd only ever seen it as a sickeningly romantic destination for lovers with its fountain, water spewing from cupid's arrow, and willow trees hanging in the distance. It still looked cheesy, but I could view it in a much more positive light tonight.

Fred stretched out on the grass and forced me down with him. I didn't cuddle up next to him as I'd done so many times before, so he laughingly grabbed me by the waist and pulled me next to him. My squirmish, ticklish self made me laugh and convulse in a weird way that caused me to blush but Fred just laughed and began running his fingers through his new favorite spot, my hair. Not that I minded. After a few moments I was able to relax and move closer to him. His slow breathing calmed me down and the music from a slow song floated out into the courtyard. I closed my eyes, contented.

"Merlin, Bell, don't fall asleep on me," he laughed. "I'll never live it down."

I yawned. "I'm not _on_ you," I argued. "I'm next to you."

"Good point," he said. "Although I wouldn't mind if you were."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't be a perv," I said, scooting away from him.

Fred grabbed me and attempted to tickle me into submission and force me on top of him.

"RAPE!" I yelled. "RAPE!"

"Shut up, Katie!" he shouted, hastily covering my mouth and looking around. "_Merlin_!"

I laughed, forcing his hands away from me. "I told you not to be a perv."

He laughed, flicking his bangs back to keep them from falling in front of his face. "Well, I don't know what to do," he said. "If I try to be romantic, you fall asleep, and when I'm messing around you try to get me expelled."

I laughed. "You could always dance with me?" I suggested. This was really the true test, I decided. I knew very well that Fred hated anything slightly romantic and dancing outside under the stars just about topped the list. However, he gallantly stood up and offered his hand to me.

"If that will keep you awake and from screaming, I'll do it," he said, smiling.

I grinned and accepted the help up. He led me over to the cobblestone patio of the courtyard and did a playful little spin and dip before holding me close to him. I smiled against him and put my hands around his neck, laying my head against his chest. He rested his chin on my head and slowly spun me around. For as much as he hated it, he was a bloody good dancer. I told him so.

He pulled back and grinned down at me. "Glad you think so," he joked. "One step closer to getting you on top of me."

I scoffed and attempted to walk away, but he held onto my hand and dragged me into another spin, moving me back toward him. I laughed, and gave in.

"Don't say things like that," I murmured. "You're freaking me out."

"Why do you think I'm doing it?" he smiled. I smiled back up at him, before he bent his head down, moving closer and closer to my lips. I freaked out and suddenly looked up.

"Look at the stars," I said, noticing really for the first time how bright they were that night.

Obeying, he observed for a couple of seconds and looked back down at me. Smiling, he said, "Here's looking at you, kid. They've got nothing on you."

I laughed out of happiness and sunk back into him.

xxx

I basically floated back to the tower that night. Or morning, rather, as Fred and I had stayed outside until one; about an hour after the party inside dissembled. Recollections of laughter, dancing, and very, very cautious hand holding filled my mind as I changed into my pyjamas and slipped into bed.

"Katie, where were you?!" Melanie said, once again at it with the hairbrush. "Everyone was looking all over for you! Where did Fred take you??"

I smiled and turned over so that no one could see my face. "Detention," I said grinning.

"Good detention, huh?" Angelina asked bluntly, raising an eyebrow.

"The best," I said, and refused to say anything else as I slipped off to sleep.

**Cute, right? Too bad the story's just beginning…**


	8. Ouch

**A/N: I'm afraid no one will like Katie but me after this chapter. But what can I say. It needs to be done!**

"_It is a truth universally acknowledged that as soon as one part of your life starts going well, another inevitably falls to pieces."_

_--Bridget Jones's Diary_

I sort of figured that being so happy last night would put me in a dandy mood in the morning; that I'd get up humming a song and patting my roommates on the head while I skipped into breakfast with flowers in my hair and perfume floating around. Well, it wasn't really like that. I was just as grumpy as I usually am in the morning.

"Could you bloody _shut up_?" I yelled, covering my head with a pillow.

"Katie, _wake up!_" Angelina said very rudely.

"No!" I yelled angrily. "It's _Saturday_. Let me sleep in."

"We have _quidditch. _And I'm your captain. You have to do what I say."

"But I _hate _quidditch," I whined. "I'm no good." Okay, so not _entirely_ true, but whatever. I was tired.

To which Angelina promptly walked over, lifted a corner of my pillow, and whispered into my ear: "But darling _Freddy_ will be there!"

I swatted her away. "He'll also be there tonight," I muttered. "When I'm fully awake and looking quite charming."

"Ooh, quidditch!" squealed Melanie from across the room. "Can I go? I'd just love to watch you all play! Fred was promising he'd show me how to ride a broomstick!"

My eyes snapped open. "Coming!" I yelled, practically flying to my wardrobe and grabbing my quidditch things.

Alicia stared at me. "That was effective," she remarked to Angelina.

"Can I come?" Melanie asked.

Alicia from her bed, Angelina up and already dressed, and me with one foot in the bathroom all exchanged looks.

"Sure you can," Alicia said finally, smiling with all her usual blondeness.

I groaned. "But Al," I argued, "Shouldn't Ange be making that call? After all, as she has just reminded us, she _is _captain." I eyed her.

Ange shrugged. "I don't care," she said. "It's open to anyone in our house to come watch us practice."

"Ange!" I wailed, carefully avoiding Melanie's crestfallen face at my outburst. "I—I get nervous with people watching me!"

She rolled her eyes. "Katie, you perform splendidly in front of three quarters of the school. I don't think Melanie's going to throw you off."

"Good point," I said pleasantly and retreating to the bathroom, but not before turning around and giving Angelina the best glare I could muster.

I didn't put makeup on this morning. It was raining, which meant we wore our goggles, and I distinctly remember one practice a couple years ago where I took off my goggles and Oliver Wood had the nerve to laugh at me and point out to the rest of the team that I was completely trashed except for the area around my eyes where my makeup was perfectly in tact. I had no desire to repeat this incident, especially remembering Fred's gallant struggles not to laugh at me. Anyway, so I looked terrifying this morning, with the hair from my ponytail sticking up in odd directions. I was very grumpy while crossing the pitch toward the three Weasleys and Potter, with Melanie tagging along behind and while looking like a shoe brush the first day after very serious advancements toward object of admiration.

Fred, however, received me with the most heartwarming smile that I felt myself go weak in the knees a little. Oh Merlin, now I've gone all poetic. Gag me. Let me try this again: Fred smiled at me in a way that made all the bad things of the morning go away. There. Much better.

Still, I stumbled onto my broom and had a rough start getting into the air. Ange blew the whistle and I nearly fell off of my broom.

"Watch yourself, Bell!" she yelled. I made a face. As soon as we got on the quidditch pitch I became "Bell", not Katie. I think as soon as a person becomes captain, they develop some kind of alter ego. Fred caught my eye and grinned. I smiled and managed to miss the quaffle.

"Bell!" Angelina shouted again. "Where's your head!"

To this, Fred raised his eyebrows at me and smirked, whilst whacking a bludger at an unsuspecting Alicia who promptly screamed and caused me to miss the quaffle yet again.

Swearing under my breath about my lack of mind, I dove after the stupid ball and thrust it through a goal hoop, easily making it past Ron Weasley who was about as much of a disaster of a keeper as all the other ruddy wankers who tried out for the spot. Forgive me. I'm just _really _not a morning person.

"Go Katie!" yelled Melanie, who was now sitting in the stands with her Gryffindor scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. She smiled sweetly and I considered her for a moment.

"Er—thanks, Melanie," I said with a slight wave of the hand, spinning around and rolling my eyes. To my surprise, I smacked straight into Fred.

"Could you bloody lay your sodding hands off of my brother at least _during _practice, Bell?" George shouted.

I laughed and prepared to share the moment with Fred but he was giving me a strange look.

"What?" I said, confused. "It was an accident."

"You don't have to be so rude to her, Katie," Fred said, as though he were half-ashamed of me. "At least make an effort like the rest of us."

"I _am _making an—"

"An honest one?" he questioned, staring into my eyes. "Really?"

I looked away and bit my lip. _Mental note: Falling for sodding best mate who knows all your sodding habits is not such a fantastic sodding idea._

"I expected more from you," was all he said before he flew away again.

Needless to say, I spent the rest of practice very angry. Who was Frederick George Weasley to tell me how to behave? It's not like _he _has ever been the perfect picture of moral decency. Was he or was he not just in the common room last night forcing first years to swallow creams that turned them into various feathered animals? You don't see _me _hopping about doing that sort of rubbish. No, indeed.

I exited the pitch as quick as I possibly could, so as not to catch more than the obliging grin on Fred's face as Melanie eagerly rushed over to claim her flying lesson. I nearly bowled over Ron and Harry who were standing near the locker rooms and gave the bird to poor George who I suspected had come over to see what was wrong. Angelina and Alicia new better and stayed away as I stormed through the locker room and straight up the stairs where I dug around in my trunk until I found my pathetic excuse for a diary which I only wrote in when I was extremely angry or upset. Really, I appear suicidal if one judged me by it alone.

Nevertheless, I jammed my quill into the inkpot and began to verbally abuse the very same person who last night I could have spent hours praising had his fan club of one not been present. When I'd finished properly ravaging Fred, I began my usually measure of wallowing in self pity. Very wholesome exercise.

_I'm taking it as a mark of just how pathetic I am that Fred, of all people, can make me feel like I'm four years old and being lectured by Dad for beating up the little boy down the street that played with dolls again. Why do I feel bad? It was one tiny eye roll. So what? I roll my eyes at Dumbledore, that doesn't mean I don't respect the man! Of course, I really **don't** respect Melanie. I mean, how can you? Fred's a prick for expecting me to try. If I look out the window, I can see them having a dandy time with her first flying lesson. Sod it, she's on **my **old broom! How did Fred get a hold of that! Wanker. At least she's awful at flying. I don't know why everything thinks she's so nice. Clearly, she has a hidden agenda. To snog **my** boyf—well. Whatever he is._

I sighed and shoved the wretched book under my mattress again. _Okay. I am ready to face the world again_. I smoothed my skirt and went downstairs. Everyone was back, with the exception of Fred and Melanie. I was determined not to let this bother me. I sat on the long couch in between the couples of Angel-LEE-na and Georg-icia_. Er. Right. First name much cleverer._

"So how is everybody?" I asked, pleasantly.

"You stormed off the pitch," George pointed out, stupidly.

I nodded. "Thank you, George."

It was very quiet.

"Er—what happened, Katie?" asked Lee, who clearly didn't know a thing.

"Fred and I just had a little disagreement, that's all," I said. "Nothing that can't be smoothed out."

"It—ah---wouldn't have happened to be about Melanie Crow, would it?" George asked. I looked at him.

"What do you mean?" I asked slowly.

"Nothing," he said quickly, looking up at the ceiling and twiddling his thumbs. I grabbed him by the collar.

"George," I whispered dangerously. "What's going on?"

He pushed me away. "You don't want to know, remember? You fired me."

My eyes narrowed. "What did you find out?" I demanded.

"Not telling."

"Alicia! Tell your boyfriend to tell me what he knows."

"Tell her, George," Alicia said.

"Nope."

"I'll meet you in the broomcloset again."

He perked up. "Really?" he asked.

"Really," said Alicia. _Merlin, some days I love this girl._

"All settled then!" I declared happily, and dragged George into the hall with me.

As soon as the portrait closed I accosted him.

"What did you find out?" I demanded.

George shifted uncomfortably. He was clearly determining whether Alicia in a broom closet could make up for having to face my fury. I rolled my eyes.

"Alicia's wearing the black bra today," I said, doing my best to be helpful.

His eyes lit up again. "Great," he said. "So—er—talked to Fred last night. Said he told you why he wanted to be at the party."

"Right…" _So far, so good._

"But—er—I'm expecting that he didn't tell you the _whole _reason he wanted to be there?"

I stared at him. "What's the_ whole_ reason?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Er…oh, sod it. He fancies Melanie too. Thinks she's a bird. To be completely honest, he wanted to be there with both of you. Just happened to be you last night, though."

"WHAT!"

"I told you you wouldn't like it! Oddsbodskins!" And with that he dove through portrait hole and scrambled away. _Coward._

It was unfortunate for Mr. Fred Weasley that as he and his bonny lass strode up the hallway that I should happen to meet them, fuming outside the door. He looked at me rather coldly. That philandering chauvinistic pig sure had some kind of confidence! Lecturing me on decorum when he—oh, who gives a toss. I was angry and I wanted to slap him.

So I did. And after that I ran—into a suit of armor to be exact. And then I stood up again and ran out of sight.


	9. Shallow as a Shower

**A/N: Many things in this chapter stolen shamelessly from various movies like Bridget Jones's Diary, 2 Weeks Notice, & 1 song: Curse of Curves by Cute is What We Aim for. Please forgive. Oh, & as always, HP belongs to JK Rowling, & you ought to review.**

_//I want someone provocative & talkative_

_But it's so hard when you're shallow as a shower//_

_--Cute Is What We Aim For, "The Curse of Curves"_

I, Kathryn Andromeda Bell, officially proclaim my eternal state of spinsterhood. Why, you ask? Oh, it's really incredibly simple. One, I am a raging maniac who feels the consistent need to prey on sweet and innocent things (namely in the shape of one Melanie Crow) who has done nothing to warrant my abusive behavior, two, I am irreversibly in love with only one man. This has problems in itself, but they only triple when you mention the fact that that one man is Frederick Weasley and that not only is he a ponce and a player, but I have just, and by just I mean two hours and 4 minutes ago, slapped him across the face. Not that he didn't deserve it, but in all honestly, would you want to date someone who slapped you across the face? I thought not.

So what am I doing now? Well, "freaking out" is Angelina's term, which I suppose is fair enough. I was pacing the dormitory floor and pulling at chunks of my straightened dark hair.

"I can't believe he _did _that to me!" I wailed, tossing another pillow at the ground. "It's not _fair_! Where's Alicia anyway?"

I sat in the middle of the floor and crossed my legs, pouting.

"I sent her on an errand you really need," Angelina said, looking at me with a mixture of pity and disgust.

"What mission's that?" I said, proceeding to pound said pillow into a pulp.

"You'll see," she said. "You're really high maintenance, you know that, right?"

"I am _not _high maintenance!" I shouted furiously. "How would _you _feel if Lee scampered off with—with _her_!"

"Yes, well, I'm _dating_ Lee, so the matter's entirely different altogether now, isn't it?"

"No need to rub it in, bloody tosser," I pouted.

Ange ignored this bout of ill will and shrugged her shoulders, picking up her diary. "You could have had him this summer, you know. When he _didn't_ know about Melanie. Then he wouldn't have given a toss about her."

"Yes, he would've," I sniffed. "Because I still would've despised her and acted like a right jerk and he would've ended up hating me and falling for her. Only it would've been worse for me because he would have actually had to chuck me instead of just giving me the slip!"

My best friend stared at me a little obscurely and then asked off hand, "What do you have against her anyway? This whole thing's starting to grate on my nerves a little as well, to be completely honest."

"Well aren't you just a dandy friend?" I said sarcastically, digging a tissue out of the pockets of my robe and blowing vigorously. "She's just…so perfect. And it's not fair. She doesn't even talk like us."

Angelina rolled her eyes. "That's because she's _American_, you sodding idiot."

I furrowed my brow. "She is? But I thought—"

"Didn't notice the little accent difference, did you?"

"I knew there was something about it I didn't like."

"And if you were listening more closely, she would have told you her parent are both American and she was born in some obscure part of England where no school had her records, or some other tosh."

"Great," I wailed. "She's _foreign._ No wonder everybody's mad after her. Everyone always goes for the foreigners."

"I told you you were high maintenance. Stop moping around. It's only eight and you're already a wreck. I usually wait for at least ten."

"Shut up," I said, blowing my nose again.

At this moment, Alicia stumbled into the room carrying more than her arms could hold of butterbeer. She looked very tired and very stressed.

"What's this all about?" I asked.

"It's for you," she said, exhausted. "To relieve your—pain."

"But it's not even alcoholic!" I protested.

Angelina rolled her eyes as she grabbed a couple of bottles and tossed me one. "Trust me," she said. "To you, it will be."

I looked at her skeptically.

"Alright," I said, taking a bottle. "I will not be defeated by a bad bloke and an American stick insect. Instead, I choose…inebriation!"

Xxx

"And it hurts me so badly!" I hiccupped, "Deep down inside! When I think about all of your lies! Uh-oh, whoa!"

"Oh dear," Alicia said. "I do believe she's had a bit much."

"She only had half a bottle, though!" Angelina said, exasperated. "What's wrong with her??"

"Your world moves on!" I sang, "But for me, my world is OVER! Your love is gone! So for me, my world is o-whoa-uh-ver!"

And then I promptly passed out.

Xxx

I woke up next morning with my head in the toilet.

"And that, Katie, is why you should never try alcohol," Angelina said, smiling, and patting me on my head. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Wha happened?" I asked stupidly.

"George told you that Fred only dated you because he couldn't get Melanie and so you slapped him and then you decided you'd be confined to a permanent state of spinsterhood and then you drank half a bottle of butter beer and passed out on the floor," Alicia supplied helpfully.

"Oh, no," I groaned and wretched into the toilet again.

"Nice going, blondey," Angelina said, rolling her eyes at Alicia. Alicia shrugged and walked out.

"Katie, knock it off," Angelina said, pulling me up into an upright position. "This is _not _a hangover. You didn't even drink! It's in your _head._"

"I don't think I 'ave a 'ead," I said, putting my hands on it just to make sure. "Wha's the day?"

"It's Sunday," Ange said firmly. "Now why don't you be a good girl and go put on something lovely and we can go downstairs and solve this little problem like all normal people?"

"Do I own lovely things?" I asked, not sure of what exactly was in my wardrobe.

"Everything you own is magnificent," she assured me, directing me back into our room. "We'll be downstairs. I'll see you in a moment, okay?"

"Sounds marvy," I returned, collapsing on my bed.

"Nooo, Kate, up we go. It's morning."

"Righ'," I said, sounding a bit like Hagrid.

I descended the stairs in a sweater and ponytail. I'd attempted to put on makeup but ended up with it all over my face. Although at the moment I couldn't say I cared much. I cared more about making sure which one of my three feet was hitting the ground at the given moment in time.

I sat down on the couch next to Fred before looking at him a while and then declaring, "Oh that's right. I don't like you today," and moving over closer to Angelina. Fred looked from Angelina to Alicia.

"What did you two do to her last night?" he asked, peering into my face.

"We—" Alicia began, but Ange hushed her. "We didn't do anything, Fred. It seems more of a question that we'd ask you."

"Fred didn't do anything to her!" cried Melanie, fiercely. "She slapped him!"

"And you don't think there was a reason for that?" Lee asked, coolly.

Melanie shrugged. "In any case, I know exactly what to do. I don't think she should have been drinking anyway, but I'll go get a cold washcloth and see what I can do."

"Thanks, Mel," Fred said kindly, but his eyes stayed on my face. Then all of a sudden recognition seemed to hit him. "Wait," he said, "What?! You two—Angelina and Alicia—you two let _her _get sloshed??"

"For heaven's sake, it wasn't alcoholic!" Angelina said for what seemed like the billionth time, throwing up her hands. "It was only butterbeer!"

"Don't you know what butter beer does to her??" Fred said, exasperated, grabbing my face and looking closely into my eyes.

"Well we bloody do now!" Angelina said, annoyed.

"Kate, are you okay in there?" Fred asked, tapping my skull. I swatted at him.

"Leave me alone, Frederick," I said grumpily. "You don't like me."

"Don't be ridiculous," he said, "Of course I like you."

"No you don't," I argued, struggling to find my center of gravity. "You think I'm immature and have short legs."

Fred smiled, slightly bemused. "Guilty," he admitted.

"So sod off."

"I'm trying to fix you," he said, hopelessly.

"Well, you're doing a right awful job," Angelina snapped, moving in between us. "Tapping on her head and asking if she's okay isn't going to help."

"You're speaking awfully high and mighty for the one who gave her butter beer in the first place!" Fred argued.

"Well forgive me for not being head over heels in love with her enough to know every miniscule part of her constitution!"

"You saucy minx!"

"Shut up, both of you!" I yelled, clutching my head. It was ringing. "You shouldn't have brought it to me, Ange, and Fred, you shouldn't have made me believe you wanted to spend time with me when you were really after her!"

I pointed to Melanie as she walked through the door with a pill and a glass of water.

"Um," she said, "I don't know what you're talking about, but I ran into Madame Pomfrey and she gave me this and said it would help you. She really is a kind lady, that woman."

Fred smiled at her and took the pill, passing it on to me. The effect was immediate. The room stopped spinning and my head stopped ringing.

"Feel better?" Fred asked, gazing at me intently.

"I'm fine," I said shortly, turning away from him.

"Kate, we need to talk," he said quietly.

"I'm not moving," I protested.

"Katie, please. This would be a lot easier for me to say in private."

"Why?" I asked, angrily. "So you can make up one of your fantastic lies again and expect me to swallow it? No way. You're saying what it is you have to say right here, with all these people as witnesses."

He frowned. "You know you _were_ right," he said. "You _are_ being immature."

"Don't you lecture me!" I said haughtily. "I'm not the hypocrite here."

"Hypocrite! _You're_ the hypocrite! Prancing around the school like you're the wife of Merlin or something and then failing to be nice even to someone who shares the same dorm as you and who looks up to you!"

The object of the discourse seemed unmoved. She was simply staring back and forth at us with her mouth open like a fish, not a clue in her pretty, empty head that Fred was referring to her.

I stiffened. "You know what?" I said, a little calmer, but still passionately. "You know what, I'm sorry. But that doesn't excuse you from what you did to me."

"Can you guys leave or something?" George asked, yawning. "Not that I don't love watching the two of you fight but I've kind of grown accustomed to it and it sort of fails to inspire me now."

I wanted to slap George now, too, but Fred grabbed a firm hold of my arm and dragged me out of the common room.

"Oh, now I see the mature part of the day has begun!" I said, crossing my arms.

"Katie," he said quietly, "Listen to me."

"No," I replied, turning around to put my back to him. "You behaved dreadfully and you know it."

"I do know it," he said. My shoulders drooped a little. Was the boy confessing.

"Kate," he continued, "I know what George told you and I'm not going to deny that it isn't true. But you've got to understand the big picture. I've—I…how do I put this. I've…wanted you, Katie, more than anything, for a long time, but you're just so bloody…_high maintenance_ that it—"

I whirled around.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "I didn't mean it. I meant you're just so—er—complicated, that when someone pretty and nice like Melanie who fancies me comes along, it's sort of hard for a bloke not to, you know, take the easy way out. I like you, but I'm shallower than a shower, to be quite honest. Please tell me you understand."

"I don't, quite," I admitted. "But I think you said the right thing. Will you just promise not to lead both of us on from now on?"

"I promise," he said, doing his best to be a serious version of himself. The effort was endearing. "And will you promise to give Melanie a little more slack?"

I considered this. "Yes, alright," I said. "As long as you like me better."

He grinned. "Of course I do. You're basically my baby sister."

I grimaced. "Not quite what I meant, but it'll fly, I suppose."

He laughed and hugged me to him with one arm. "You know what I mean," he said.

I considered the heartfelt look that shone in his usually mischievous eye. "Yes," I admitted. "I suppose I do."


	10. Fair Enough

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I updated this story. I've been incredibly busy with work, & I'm afraid writing isn't up to standard. In fact, this chapter is actually a filler, full of crap writing. But…I am lazy. & this will have to do for now. Promise better work in the future, thanks for all the reviews.**

"_Let it be."_

_--John Lennon_

"And you actually _believed _him?!" Angelina asked incredulously as I lazily flipped through some magazines.

"Yes," I said. "I did."

"Are you mental?"

"No, but I'm getting there. Why? You think I ought not t'have?"

"It's _Fred_. Since when does he keep his promises?"

"Well technically, he didn't _promise_ me anything. So he can't really break them now, can he?"

Angelina rolled her eyes at me and returned to brushing her hair.

"So are you two a couple now or what?" Alicia asked.

"Of course they are," Ange said matter-of-factly. "Katie wouldn't have settled for anything less after that, would you have, Kat?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "No, not exactly…"

"What?? You accept his apology just like that? You accept that he only likes you _more _than Melanie and then don't even pursue a relationship?? What's gotten into you?"

"Well, what do you expect?" I shouted. "It's _me_. I don't date, _remember_? How should I know what to accept and what not to? Besides, I _like _the kid, if you haven't thought of that recently." I crossed my arms.

"How could I help but to not think of it when you bring it up all the time?" she shot back.

"Listen," I said exasperated. "I'm really in a bind. Are you going to just stand there and yell at me, or are you actually going to give me some advice? Hmm?"

"I say you either go up to him and slap him across the face or snog his brains out," Alicia said casually. Both of us stared at her.

"That," I said, "coming from you?"

"I do have to admit I'm shocked," Angelina said.

Alicia frowned. "What? Can't I make a racy comment or two once in a while?"

"No," I said. "And it wasn't racy."

"Well, I know more about it than you do."

"I don't want to hear about your exploits with George. I've just eaten dinner."

"This isn't getting us anywhere, love," Angelina said, pulling my magazine away from me. "Let's stop arguing and see where we are, shall we? And what we're going to do?"

"Why do _you _have to do anything?" I complained. "Why can't I just handle things the way I know how?"

"Because you _don't_ know how. You've never had a boyfriend in your life!"

I glared at her and ripped my magazine out of her hands and threw it across the floor. "I know that, okay?" I announced, standing on top of my bed. "I, as much as anyone, if not more so, am aware of the pathetic state of my love life. I realize I have yet to be kissed or go steady with a bloke. So can we stop bringing this up and simply move on with the fact that I'm going to be handling my own affairs from here on out? I don't know, maybe the reason that I haven't had that is because you two are always meddling into everything I do!"

Alicia frowned. "We're not meddling," she said.

"Whatever." I sat down and rolled my eyes. "I'm going to bed."

And I did.

XXX

I got up earlier the next morning than I usually did and sneaked into the prefect's bathroom. I'd wheedled the password out of Alicia sometime earlier in the year and went in there when I needed some time to think. After I'd straightened my hair and put the finishing touches on my mascara, I sat down on the toilet, crossed my legs, and set my chin in my hand. This whole situation was a lot more difficult than I had thought at first.

The problem was, Alicia and Angelina had a point. Fred had only admitted to liking me _better _than Melanie, and even then he had kind of danced around the issue. I felt like this was a very precarious situation to be in. Not that I knew anything about relationships, but it seemed like I could get hurt very, very easily. I considered consulting George about this, but decided against it when I thought about the amount of misery I had already involved him in. Complaining to the girls wouldn't work—they just complained about my complaints. And one thing was for sure—I definitely did _not_ want to bring it up with Fred again. There was no need for him to think I was needy.

I sighed and blew air out of my mouth. Well, this was getting me nowhere. I decided that the best plan of action would have to be to continue being myself, though perhaps with a bit less biting wit and sarcasm toward Melanie. It had gotten me this far, hadn't it? In time I'd know how he really felt. No need for me to feel like anything more than a best mate yet.

XXX

"Morning," I said casually to everyone as I sat down in my usual place next to Fred. Melanie was on his other side, happily eating her eggs. I averted my eyes from Fred's obliging face as she began a lengthy discourse on what she hoped to accomplish for the day, and helped myself to some toast.

I attempted to engage George and Alicia in some sort of dull discussion of the prospects of the day's set of classes—History of Magic and double Potions—as Melanie and Fred went on chatting as though nothing had changed. Hope began to dwindle and I started to suck on the prongs of my fork until I felt Fred place his arm around my waist and coyly scoot me closer to him. I felt a rush of blood go to my face and hid my head in my unfinished History of Magic essay. Fred continued to nod at Melanie with a bit of a smirk on his face.

XXX

"Fred, what was that?" I asked, clutching my books to my chest as the seven of us walked down the crowded Hogwarts halls toward the History of Magic classroom.

"What was what?" he responded, looking casually unconcerned.

"At breakfast. You know. What…was that?"

"I haven't the foggiest idea what you might be referring to, Bell," Fred said, looking down at me with a glint in his eye. "Unless you were talking about the breakfast casserole, in which case I again have _no_ idea how to answer. You might try asking George, though. I think he actually managed to make it past the gag reflex."

I rolled my eyes. "Why do I bother with you, Frederick?"

"I think the real question is why I bother with you. You're thoroughly confusing, Katie Kate, referring to odd incidents you concoct in that charming skull of yours. I simply cannot figure you out."

I stared at him so incredulously that I managed to run straight into Professor Flitwick and bowl the poor man over. I exclaimed and was profuse in my apologies as I helped him up and in the process managed to have a second year trip over my bag.

Fred smirked. "Come along, Charlie Chaplin," he said, and once again placed his hand on my waist, guiding me down the hallway.

"You're bizarre," I said condescendingly, but inside I was beaming.

XXX

History of Magic was easily the most boring class in the entire universe. It seemed that only Melanie was capable of resisting the sonorous droning of Professor Binns and able to manage taking notes, as the rest of our brain activity seemed quite dormant. Lee was drooling on his desk next to Angelina who was drawing out complicated quidditch plays who was next to Alicia who was staring out the window, apparently daydreaming, whose skirt was being consistently lifted up a little further by George who seemed to have nothing but sensuality on his mind as of late. Or ever, I suppose. Fred looked brain dead and I was dozing in and out of sleep, propped up by my elbow.

"Miss Bell, how would you respond to that?"

The entire class jerked up and stared at Professor Binns who was staring at me expectantly. This was probably the first time in a decade that Binns had asked a student's opinion on subject matter and I happened to be the lucky student it was directed toward. Even Lee took notice enough to sit up and suck up the pool of saliva that was threatening to rival the English Channel.

"E-excuse me?" I said, bewildered. I could feel the class's looks of sympathy directed toward me and Fred's unabashed grin. "What did you say?"

"I was simply remarking that the Goblin Rebellion of the 17th Century had a profound effect on the way international wizarding relations functioned today. I have been told by Professor McGonagall that you're doing an interesting piece for your 7th year thesis on such a subject and I was curious concerning your thoughts."

I sat, dumbfounded. What kind of right did McGonagall have to blurb my thesis topic around the staffroom? Honestly, didn't these people have something _better_ to talk about? Like the fact that Professors Vector and Sinistra have been snogging in the same broom closet used by the majority of the student dating population? Sure, that was my thesis topic, but what did _that_ mean? Didn't they _know _me by now? There was no way in hell that I'd started that paper.

"Miss Bell?"

"I—er—"

As I racked my brain to come up with something intelligent to say, I felt a foot slightly grace mine, and then more aggressively begin rubbing up my leg. I gasped a little.

"_Not now, Fred_," I hissed, as the blasted redhead continued to feign interest in what I was going to say, with the smallest of smirks playing on the corners of his mouth.

"Sorry…I didn't catch that, Miss Bell. What was it that you said?"

"I said—I said, now that they're dead…umm…"

Fred raised his eyebrows in interest and I began to grin. I couldn't help it. The conniving little wanker had gotten me. I began to retaliate, attempting to keep a straight face but failing miserably.

"Yes, Miss Bell?"

"Well—er—now that they're _dead_, I would say that the—_(Fred! You're a pervert.)_—that the effect would appear to be small, but in all reality—_(Could you please give it a rest for two seconds?_)—in all reality, I think you're startlingly correct in your assumptions about the Goblin Rebellion, sir."

He looked at me appraisingly for a few seconds, and then nodded. My mouth dropped. Had he actually bought that ridiculously horrid answer? He had. He turned around and continued to lecture. I sank down in my seat and glared at Fred.

"You," I mouthed, "you are _so_ not going to be among the living if you keep that up."

He grinned. "I thought you said you liked me, Bell."

"I said no such thing."

"But you do."

"No, I don't."

"Why, I think you very much do."

"I think you're very much incorrect. Now please leave me alone. I'm very busy and important."

"Katie Kate," he whined, "why are you denying the love? That was a pretty intense game of footsie we had going on there for a while. You joined in. You know you did."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, guilty, then."

He smiled, satisfied. "Now that's more what I thought."

"You're a creep," I said.

"You have a creep's hand on your knee. And you haven't moved it."

"Hasn't six years of knowing me taught you anything? I'm lazy."

"And you like me."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"Bugger off, or I'm not letting your keep your hand on my knee."

"Alright, Katie Kate. Fair enough."


	11. Oh No A Toad Woman

**A/N: Warning…LONG chapter ahead. I mean, ridiculously long. However, it's been ridiculously long since I last updated this story, so I figure it's alright. Also, there's very little Melanie in this chapter & it's going to stay that way for maybe a couple more. Don't worry though, she's definitely coming back. I know you all love her SOOO much! R &R please.**

_The fact that you still love me_

_Despite my temper_

_& flights of fancy_

_Lets me know_

_I'm never gonna let you go._

I fiddled around aimlessly with a fancy feather quill that was sitting in McGonagall's office. I was growing increasingly worried as time went by and she still didn't show up. Why she wanted to meet with me before breakfast escaped me, and I could only conclude that it was because she had finally managed to figure out who it was that had let off a troll alarm during final exams in second year. I debated whether or not to give George up as the mastermind, or to go down alone on this one. Ha—as if that was even a question. I wasn't noble; I was a Gryffindor for Merlin's sake. I may be yellow, but at least it matched my outfit.

"It was George!" I said as soon as McGonagall walked through the door. She looked at me for a moment and then shook her head as she lowered herself into the seat at the desk across from me.

"Miss Bell—"

"No," I argued, "It really was! You can't tell me you didn't know that—that scheme had Weasley written all over it! It would have probably involved both of them, except you moved Fred away from us because he was asking us whether or not Gregory the Smarmy was a goblin or an elf. Anyway, it was all George's idea to set off an alarm, I just complied because I was young, carefree, and innocent—"

"Miss Bell," she said again, this time more forcefully. "I am not here to incriminate you or Mr. Weasley about anything, though now that this information has come to light, I'd like to see both of you in my office Thursday night to retake your second year exams and replace that excused incomplete."

I shut my mouth. _Oh_. "Well—er—then what _are_ you here for?" I asked.

"First, to take my eagle's feather quill back"—I complied—"and then to ask if you would be willing to be the student chairwoman over this year's 7th Year Ball."

I gaped at her. "You're here to offer me a _job_?" I asked incredulously.

"It's not a job," she said firmly. "_You_ are here to listen to a proposal which I am offering—a position, if you will."

I ignored this. "And you picked_ me_ over the Head Girl? Minerva, I'm flattered!"

She sighed exasperatedly. "It's _Professor McGonagall, _Miss Bell, and _I _did not choose you. It was Professor Dumbledore's idea, after hearing of your 'superb leadership' from Professor Malone. Believe me, if I had any say in the matter…anyway, can you come to a decision within the next hour?"

"Hour?" I asked, laughing. "As if I need time! I'll do it."

"I hope you realize what you're committing to," said McGonagall seriously. "This is going to be a big investment of time, after school hours—things you cannot simply shirk off, Miss Bell. This will have more serious consequences than homework if you choose to arbitrarily skip meetings. I might also remind you that you are a quidditch player and thus have even greater demands on your time—"

I waved my hand. "Ange will understand."

"Somehow I think Miss Johnson takes her position as captain more seriously than you believe she does. I will not permit you to fill this position if it jeopardizes other parts of your—and others'—lives."

I nodded, trying to be serious. "I understand."

She hesitated and then tried one more thing. "Also, this would entail spending a great deal of extra time with _me_. Do you understand, Miss Bell?"

I laughed. "As if that would deter me. You and me go way back, Minerva—oh, I'm sorry. Professor McGonagall. It will be a barrel of laughs. We're just like old gal pals."

The old bird sighed and placed her head in her hands. "I was afraid you would say that," she muttered.

I looked at her sympathetically. "Don't worry, McGonagall. I think we both know deep down that I'm the best person for the job, and that you do really enjoy me."

She waved her hand toward the door. "Just go," she said. "I need to take some medication before breakfast."

I shrugged. "Alright," I said. "See you later, Mc-G."

"Oh, and do me one favor?" she said, as I exited the room. "Please do not choose either of the Weasleys to be committee members. I don't know that I could handle all three of you at once."

I grinned and nodded, heading back out toward the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Yesssssssssssssssssss!!"

XXX

"Why do you look so chipper?" asked a groggy, disoriented George. "It's 8:30 in the morning."

"Believe it or not, Georgio," I said, smiling, "some people do actually function before noon."

He rolled his eyes and Angelina scoffed at my blatant hypocrisy.

"What's going on, Katie?" asked Alicia, rubbing her boyfriend's back. "What did McGonagall want?"

"To ask me to be the chairwoman over the seventh year ball," I said matter-of-factly. "And by the way, George, you and I have to be in her office on Thursday night to retake our second year exams. She—er—found out that the troll thing wasn't quite…the truth."

"What?!" everyone chorused.

"What?!" yelled George. "What do you mean I have to take my second year exams?? I don't know that stuff!"

I ignored George. "Yeah," I said. "I guess Dumbledore hand-picked me." I smiled, trying to appear modest and failing miserably.

"Congratulations, Katie," Alicia said as Angelina interrogated me as to whether or not I would still be at quidditch practices.

I waved my hand impatiently. "I already promised McGonagall I wouldn't be shirking any of my other responsibilities. I'll be there."

Satisfied, she congratulated me but warned me not to pick her to be on the committee. Lee grinned and shook his head. "Another triumph for the terrifying Bell Witch," he said, referring as usual to the famous American poltergeist.

"Piss off," I said playfully, flicking a piece of egg at him.

Fred was remaining unusually quiet and gave me a strained smile as I settled down and began to help myself to some pancakes. I wondered if this had anything to do with that inferiority complex of his with me involved in so many extra-curricular activities. In order to assure him I still was the same girl in the swimming hole last summer, I reached underneath the table and took his hand, cautiously smiling at him. This seemed to reassure him as he grinned and kissed me on the side of my cheek. I blushed.

"So what's with you two, now?" George asked abruptly. "Are you a couple finally, or what?"

"Well," Fred began slowly, still looking at me.

"Hi Fred!" interrupted a cheerful voice. "Morning, all!" Melanie settled herself down as usual on the other side of Fred and Fred immediately dropped my hand. I frowned.

"Morning, Mel-Bell," he said casually.

"Well, Katie, looks like you're no longer the only 'Bell' in Fred's life," Angelina teased from across the table. I scowled at her.

"He was just about to ask me out before she showed up and you know it," I hissed.

She shrugged. "Whatever," she said. I frowned inwardly. _Why was I still sensitive about this?_

I could hear Melanie babbling to my left but I wasn't paying enough attention to form the squeaks into coherent sentences, until I heard: "What do you think, Katie?"

"I think that would be dandy," I said sarcastically, both of my hands on my face.

"You think it would be…dandy…if Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall were caught in a broom cupboard?"

I looked up disgusted. "What??" I asked incredulously as my friends laughed at me. Fred winked and smiled at my confusion. _Ah. It would be like you to initiate some kind of conversation like that_, I thought.

Melanie giggled. "You really think that would be good, huh, Katie?"

"Yeah, Melanie, definitely. But why don't you just take Fred's word for it? You two seem to get on well."

Fred laughed a little and shook his head. Now it was his turn to take my hand firmly under the table to reassure me that I was still attractive, wanted, and liked. I blushed a little at my easy doubt and confined myself to eating toast for the rest of the breakfasting period. Toast was really a useful distraction, I found.

XXX

"I don't get your & Fred's relationship," Angelina said bluntly later that afternoon as we headed toward our arithmancy class. We were the only two out of our friends who had kept with it; Angelina because she loved it, me because I didn't want to continue with Care of Magical Creatures, after Hagrid had forced me to attempt to feed a hippogriff and it sneezed Niagra Falls all over me.

"Yeah, get in line," I sighed, pushing the door open and letting her go first.

"I mean, you definitely _act_ like you like each other," she continued, choosing a seat, "And I know you do, but I don't understand why he doesn't just make it _official_ already, and I don't understand why you're still so desperately jealous of Melanie."

I huffed.

"And_ he _seems to have a really hard time with the fact that you're involved in—well—everything."

I nodded. "I know," I said contemplatively, sitting down beside her. "He's _always_ been awkward about the things I do. It's like he thinks he doesn't measure up because I'm volunteer of the month in Friends of the Hobgoblin's Club."

"You're in the Friends of the Hobgoblin's Club?"

"Figure of speech."

"Ah."

"Anyway, it's kind of frustrating. I mean, who actually takes that kind of stuff seriously? I'm still the same person. It's like he has issues unless it's just us, or us and you guys. And I _am_ ridiculously oversensitive about his relationship with Melanie, I know that. But it's like I can't get over the fact that he fancied her, and it's totally obvious that she still fancies him. I'm being stupid…er…than usual."

"Stupider is not a word, darling," Angelina reminded me. "And try to let the Melanie thing go. It will wear out after time. You know what you have to do now, right?"

"Er…no." I was lost.

"Ask Fred to go with you to 7th Year Ball. That will firm things up a bit and maybe give him the confidence he needs to make things official. After that, all you need to do is tell Melanie that you and Fred are an item and she'll turn her sights to greener pastures. A girl like her just wants to like and be liked—who it is is kind of secondary. Fred just happened to be the first bloke—first single bloke—that she encountered. Trust me, all this will blow over. Just take the initiative."

I ignored all the sense Angelina was making and went straight for the only point that I had an issue with. "You're crazy!" I said, perhaps a little too loudly as the class, including Professor Vector, looked up.

"Sorry," I muttered, sinking a little in my seat.

"Try to keep it down to a minimum today, Miss Bell," Vector drawled and began to draw a diagram on the chalkboard.

"You're crazy," I hissed to Angelina after he had turned around. "I can't ask Fred to the ball! That's totally _his_ responsibility."

"You think he's going to feel comfortable asking the chairwoman, Queen of Confetti and Confectionaries, to the 7th Year Ball? Guess again."

"But I'm _not_ just the chairwoman. I'm…me!"

"Not to him. Or to me sometimes, come to think of it. You're bloody scary sometimes. Kind of…high—"

"I am _not_ high maintenance!" I yelled, tearing at my hair.

"Miss_ Bell_," Professor Vector said sternly. "_Please_. I have a headache this morning and I can't tolerate many of your outbursts."

"Yeah, well that's because you were out a little too late_ star gazing_ with Professor Sinistra," I muttered, a little too audibly.

Vector's face turned an odd shade of red and a few of my classmates laughed. _Uh-oh_.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Miss Bell. Mind your tongue."

I groaned and tried to ignore Angelina's sniggering.

XXX

"So what do you reckon this new Defense Against The Dark Arts professor will be like, eh?" Fred asked as we walked hand in hand down to the room in which the class was to be held. I was getting more and more used to holding his hand and was relaxed at the moment. Both of us were just keeping an eye out for Melanie, whom we decided might not handle the new very well.

"The toad woman?" I asked. "Probably total crap. Her speech at the banquet put me to sleep."

"Ever the optimist Bell," Fred laughed good-naturedly.

"Yes, well, someone's got to be."

We took seats at the back of the classroom as was our custom in classes in which we hadn't been banned from sitting together. Our friends soon filled in around us. Melanie looked distressed in having to choose between the front row where she could be a good student and the back row where her friends were. In an attempt to be a nicer person, I waved, inviting her to join us. She looked grateful and took a seat by Alicia. Fred reached out and squeezed my knee, which I decided was approval.

I looked around, but the toad woman wasn't in the classroom. I figured she wanted to make an entrance. Despite my normally lazy student habits, I took out my wand, textbook, parchment, quill, and ink and arranged them neatly on the desk. Defense Against the Dark Arts was a favorite subject of mine and I was rather gifted with it. It wouldn't get me the internship at the daily prophet, but if You-Know-Who had returned, well—it suddenly became a lot more important than usual.

"Planning on paying attention once this year, Bell?" Lee asked, cracking a grin.

I scrunched my nose at him. "I pay attention in class loads," I said, openly lying.

"Right," laughed George, "That's not a lie."

"It's not!"

"I can let you look like you're a good student, Kates, but I can't let you continue to lie about who you are. It just wouldn't be right. Embrace your mediocrity."

I leaned back, sizing up my opponent. "You can't continue to let me lie…" I mused. "And…I don't think I can continue to let you live if you keep making comments like that."

"Please," George scoffed. "You can't kill me. Alicia will die of heartache."

"Right," Alicia said sarcastically, not bothering to turn around to face her boyfriend.

"What?!"

We laughed. "Would you die of heartache if someone killed me?" Fred asked, smirking.

"I'd die," I admitted, "but of a different 'h' word."

"Which is?"

"Happiness."

"Oh! Oh, okay…nice one, Bell. But watch your back. Never mess with a Weasley."

"Right," I said rolling my eyes. "I'm shaking in my knee high socks."

"You should be."

I was about to retort, but at that moment our new professor walked in. All of our heads snapped up, sizing up the woman who had taken the alleged 'cursed' position. It was quite a spectacle. She was around five feet tall, spherical, and had large, wide-set eyes. An offensive pink cardigan was wrapped around her shoulders and several strings of pale pink pearls hung from her thick neck. Tied around the gray matted hair was large pink bow. I stifled my laughter and glanced at Fred to share the moment. He, however, was quietly taking out a piece of parchment and a quill. She began to speak. _Was Fred actually taking notes_?

"Hello, class," she said in a strangely piercing high voice. "I am Professor Dolores Umbridge, and I hope that we will all be very good friends."

I raised one eyebrow. This woman had to be kidding. I glanced over at Fred again but he was busily writing on his parchment. I frowned. Umbridge continued on.

"Wands away, please," she said. "Today we will be discussing our syllabus."

I lazily tucked my wand back into my bag and exchanged a horrified glance with Angelina. I felt better. I turned back around and found a folded piece of parchment sitting on my desk. Fred was facing forward with a slight smirk on his face and no more parchment on his desk. I half-smiled and picked it up.

**Looks like you might have competition for your 'Best-Dressed' Award now.**

I was caught off-guard and laughed out loud. Umbridge looked up at me.

"Is there a problem back there, Miss--?"

"Bell. Katie Bell," I answered, looking up and shoving the note discretely in my blouse.

"Well, Miss Bell," she said sweetly. "Perhaps you'll be able to pay better attention up here with less…distractions"—she eyed Fred—"Can you come be my scribe for a moment?"

"Uh—sure," I said, getting up and walking to the front of the class. She came very close to me and handed me a piece of chalk and a piece of parchment.

"Can you please write these course objectives on the blackboard for me?" she asked. Her breath smelled.

"Yeah, okay."

I turned to the chalkboard, wondering why she didn't just use her wand and began writing. She continued to introduce herself, explaining that she owned eight cats and I tuned her out. As I finished the list, I stared at what I had written and frowned. I turned the paper over. Nothing there.

"Er—excuse me, Professor Umbridge," I interrupted.

"Yes, dear?" she asked, looking slightly annoyed.

"I think you forgot to give me the other objectives."

"There are no more, sweetheart. You did wonderfully. You can sit back down now."

"But…" I said. She eyed me, but continued to listen. "But there's nothing here about the practical use of spells."

Several of my classmates—in particular the Ravenclaws—perked up and began to look at what I had written. Professor Umbridge furrowed her brow.

"That's because we will simply be studying theory this year," she explained a little more harshly than normal.

"What?" I blurted. "Why?"

"It has been my understanding that you and your classmates have been exposed to some rather optional methods of this discipline and I am here to correct that. You will be studying a Ministry approved course—"

"The ministry," I scoffed. Her eyes narrowed.

"Bell," she said quietly. "Daughter of Nicolas and Andromeda, is that right?"

"Yes," I said loudly, looking at her squarely in the eye.

"Interesting," she said. "Your father's been absent quite a bit from the ministry, hasn't he? Any ideas why?"

I shoved the chalk and the parchment back into her hands. "Several _theories_," I said. "Apparently that's good enough for the ministry, isn't it?"

"Return to your seat, Miss Bell," she said sharply. "And try to pay better attention this time."

I glared and sat back down.

"Getting an early start on making a name for yourself, are we?" Fred whispered, amused.

"How can you laugh at that?" I hissed back. "Didn't you hear what she said to me?"

"Yeah, I heard," he said, slightly more seriously. "Why'd you respond like that?"

"What?? How could I not? She provoked me!"

"You could have gotten your father into a lot of trouble," he whispered. "She works for Fudge…your dad works for Fudge…think about it."

"She works for Fudge?" I gasped. He put a finger to his lips.

"What? You think Dumbledore hired her?"

I shrugged. "I didn't know."

"Anyway, she mentioned it in her speech. You should really pay more attention, you know." He smirked. I frowned.

"Well at least she knows where I stand," I said. "You're hiding back here like a coward."

"Pardon me for not wanting to stick my neck out too quickly," he said, rolling his eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

Umbridge looked in our direction again. "You seem to be quite a distraction to Miss Bell, Mr.--?"

"Weasley!" Fred said cheerfully, waving his hand about in a ridiculous manner. "Fred Weasley. Friends call me Fred-o."

I buried my face in my hands.

"I'm going over our course's view on discipline, Mr. Weasley. You ought to be paying better attention."

"I can assure you that I am now listening intently, then," Fred said cheerfully, still grinning his ridiculous grin.

"You have excellent taste in men," Angelina hissed at me, smirking.

"Sod off," I whispered back. "_You_ were the one that went to the Yule Ball with him."

She shrugged and turned back around.

I was distressed. I wanted to keep arguing this thing out with Fred but he was being ridiculous and Professor Umbridge would now be watching us like a hawk. I sunk down in my seat and pouted, not bothering now to take notes on her new, nonsensical approach to defense spells Fred smirked at me, reached over and took a sheet of my parchment and pulled a quill out of his bag. He glanced up at Professor Umbridge and began to write. I raised one eyebrow. What now? He folded up the paper, set it back down on his desk, continuing to stare at Umbridge and then suddenly, the paper flew over to my desk. _Ah—silent spells_.

I did my best to discretely unfold the parchment, giving Fred a suspicious look. I hoped he was ready to discuss this situation like an adult now. No such luck however. How could I have expected different from a Weasley?

**Barely eight minutes into class and the new professor already knows both of our names. We're a miracle, really.**

I groaned inwardly at my rather slow friend and picked up my quill.

_Fred, how can you not be concerned about this?? This woman is spying on Hogwarts, probably one of the last safe places we have left. Fudge refuses to believe You-Know-Who's back and this is going to be his way of making sure that NONE of us know the truth! What's happened to you? I thought you of all people, having spent the summer at the actual headquarters, would care about it!_

I tried to use my silent banishing spell and failed. I frowned, poking it with my wand, frustrated. To my left, Fred rolled his eyes and summoned it to him. I crossed my arms and glowered at nothing in particular. He read my response and frowned as well.

**Okay, Miss One-Girl-Revolution, but before you decide to fight for truth and justice everywhere, let's just remember that we've been in her class for about ten minutes and as of yet have no idea what she—or Fudge—is planning.**

_It's obvious what they're planning. Soften us up, lull us away into thinking there's nothing the matter. Then, when the shit hits the fan, none of us are going to ready. And what's with this 'One Girl Revolution'? I don't understand why you always have to insult the things I care about._

**Great. Our first fight.**

I balled my hands into fists.

_This isn't our first fight, Fred Weasley. We've fought plenty of times before and I would like to remind you that you haven't as of yet asked me out, so there's nothing to classify as firsts here is there?_

I braced myself. This was probably the most straight-forward thing I'd ever said—er, written—to Fred before. Unfortunately, he rolled his eyes.

**Well if you're expecting me to do it now, you might want to plan on something else. You're not exactly setting the mood, Katie.**

_And you're being a dick. Guess that's it. Guess we'll never be together, then._

**Guess not.**

_Fine._

**Merlin, Katie, can we cut this out? You know I like you.**

_Well I don't like you when you're acting like this. Can you at least admit to me that something isn't right here?_

**Of course it's not right. I haven't disagreed with you yet. All I'm saying is that we shouldn't run into this, guns blazing, eyes closed without knowing more of what's going on. Investigation, if you will.**

_Investigation?_

**Investigation. You know. You. Me. Secrets and dark spaces.**

_That sound exciting…_

**Aye, that it does.**

_But what do we do for now? I don't want her to think I'm taking this lying down._

**Just continue to be the smart-ass that I—and the rest of the world—knows that you are. You're good at that.**

_Ha ha._

**And Katie, I'm sorry. I wasn't meaning to insult you. You know how I feel about you. But you do realize you can get carried away sometimes, don't you?**

_I guess. Anyway, I'm sorry, too. Truce?_

**Oh, infinitely more, I'm hoping.**

I couldn't help but smiling a little as I folded the note and stuck it in my book bag. I still didn't agree with Fred entirely. I didn't want to behave as a dutiful, smiling, brain-washed student of the toad woman. I still thought it was pretty obvious what Fudge was up to. But, I supposed Fred was right in saying that we probably ought to figure out _exactly_ what was going on before we acted. And yet I wanted her to know I didn't support her. Even if it was something as simple as keeping my wand out everyday. _Hey…that was it. _I smiled mischievously and placed my rather skinny wand at the top of my desk, hoping she would see it.

Umbridge went on lecturing. She was now talking about how we could all be friends if we cooperated together. I wondered vaguely if she was a student of the illustrious muggle Karl Marx. I picked up my wand and waved it around a bit. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Fred rolling his eyes but he was also smirking, obviously amused.

This technique worked.

"Miss Bell," she said gently. "I said wands away at the beginning of class."

"Sorry," I said. I set my wand down.

She continued to eye me. "All the way please, Miss Bell."

"Well, this is—you know—just in case."

"Just in case _what_?"

"Just in case I need it."

Angelina looked at me, confused. Lee grinned and gave me the thumbs-up sign. I winked in reply.

"Believe me, you're not going to need it."

"How do you know? Maybe Professor Dumbledore will come through the door and say 'May I please have Katie Bell's wand in under 3 seconds?' "

"He's not going to say that."

"How do you know for sure?"

"Miss Bell, you're trying my patience."

"Am I succeeding?"

Her face was turning red and her brow was furrowed. I knew she was reaching her breaking point.

"Kathryn," she said slowly. Her voice was still syrupy sweet but there was now a hint of tension behind it. "Kathryn, dear, put your wand away now or I'm going ot have to do something I wouldn't wish to do on the first day."

"How do you know that my name is Kathryn?"

"Miss Bell" _Odd, her voice sounded dramatically different when she was shouting._ "Put that want away now or you will have three evenings worth of detention!"

At this, Angelina poked her head up. "No," she mouthed. "Quidditch."

This went beyond quidditch for me, however.

"I want it out," I said calmly.

"Fine. You've made your choice. I'll see you at seven o'clock this evening in this room."

Out of nowhere, Melanie stood up at her desk. "Professor Umbridge!" she said earnestly in her high-pitched voice. "I'm Melanie Crow. You can't give Katie detention! She's really nice!"

I was ready to fall through the floor. Several people in the class snickered, and I even heard one say "Merlin, she's fetching _and_ loyal. I'd tap that."

"Miss Crow, would you like to join Miss Bell this evening?"

Melanie's eyes grew round and she fell silent, sitting down.

"Good," Umbridge said, reverting back to her syrup voice. "Seven o' clock, Miss Bell."

I saluted her.

The rest of the class stared at me oddly while Angelina was looking daggers. I arranged my wand calmly on my desk and listened quietly for the remainder of the hour.

XXX

"You know you're nutters, right?" Fred asked me as soon as we got into the hallway.

"I rather thought it was a virtue," I replied carelessly.

He laughed. "You're really one of the strangest girls I've ever met."

"You can stop holding my hand if you'd like. It's probably an embarrassment to be seen with me."

"I can suffer through it."

"I rather hoped so."


	12. Using My Brain

**A/N: ATTENTION, EVERYONE. This is going to be the last chapter I'm putting up on this story until I get least 5 reviews on it. I'm very serious about this—I know all of you read this story; I check the hits & I know all of you have it on your alert list. So PLEASE!! Could I just get a little feedback?? I got 2 reviews on my last chapter. TWO! It's very discouraging to have you beg me to update & then get no response. If it sucks, tell me it sucks! I'll take that over nothing. I want to know how you feel about it. Furthermore, I'm currently on hiatus for one-shots as well until I get least 10 on my newest story, Friday the 13****th****. I got ONE review out of thirty hits. Come on, people. Do me a favor. I'll love you forever, I promise. Even if you think it blows.**

"I can't _believe_ that you just threw aside quidditch just to make your stupid point!" Angelina yelled. "We _need_ you! How are Alicia and I supposed to practice Hawkshead without you?!"

"Um…pretend I'm there?" I suggested.

"This is unbelievable!" Angelina shouted, throwing up her hands. "And to top it off, apparently Potter's got detention from the same woman! We're going to have a team of five. _Great_. Mighty Gryffindor."

"Oh come on, Ange," I said. "It's not that big of a deal. Potter is Wonder Boy and I practice all the time anyway. You know that."

"But you're missing our next _three_ practices!"

"I'll wake up early, okay?"

"But it's not _team_ practice!"

"Then schedule them early!"

"I'm not Oliver, Katie!"

I sighed. "Look, Ange," I said slowly. "I'm really sorry. Really, I am. And I was a little rash today, I'll admit. But we talked about it and I know you agree that her class is ridiculous. I had to let her know."

She groaned. "Can't you let her know without getting a detention, Katie?"

"I won't anymore," I promised.

"You swear?"

"On Merlin's holy beard," I said solemnly. "All 3 feet of it."

I trooped down the stairs, more wanting detention to be over with than anything else. I was almost to the point where I was regretting my rash decision to expose myself. I would much rather be practicing quidditch with my mates and having the prospect of hanging out with Fred afterward than spending the evening scrubbing classrooms with the toad woman. Actually, I had no idea what she had planned for me. Maybe she would make me scourgify her cardigan collection. No doubt she had plenty more than the one she had donned today. I wondered vaguely if Fred would wait up for me. I hoped so. I wanted to see him more than I had gotten to already today. Maybe he would finally ask me out.

I was rather busy imagining ways I would respond if tonight was really the night and because of that, I had the misfortune to run straight into Professor McGonagall. I cursed being born short as my head landed straight between her boobs. I bounced off abruptly and stared up at her, mortified.

"Sorry, Professor," I mumbled awkwardly, and tried to move around her.

"Miss Bell, where are you going? Shouldn't you be out practicing with the rest of your team?" she asked, looking at me curiously. For all her stern exterior, everyone knew McGonagall was a Gryffindor quidditch fanatic.

"I have detention," I said, unenthused.

"But if I didn't give you detention, who did?"

"Umbridge," I said begrudgingly.

"Professor Umbridge gave you detention?" Her voice seemed concerned, almost angry.

"Yeah…" I said slowly. "What's the big deal? You give me detention all the time."

"_I _am not here having been appointed by Prime Minister Fudge, Miss Bell. Watch your step around her. I don't think I have to explain myself here."

"Professor, I don't understand what the problem is with letting her know that I know what she's up to," I said, unable to comprehend why she didn't support me here.

"Miss Bell, consider it. Everything Fudge hears comes form this woman. If she thinks Professor Dumbledore is causing students to rebel, there are going to be drastic steps taken here and the school will _no longer be safe._ I'm speaking here as someone who knows your family and their allegiance. Otherwise, I cannot tell you anything. Do I make myself clear?"

I swallowed. "Inescapably," I said.

She took my shoulder. "Katie," she said, catching me off guard. "Use your brain."

I nodded. "Oh, and um…you might want to consider making that charming little speech to Harry as well. He has detention tonight, too."

"_What?_" And she took off down the corridor.

I tried to shrug off the sense of urgency that McGonagall had filled the air with, but it was difficult. I sort of wished I was a muggle.

When I reached the classroom, I walked straight in. I didn't want her to view my knocking as any sign of submission to her. Maybe I couldn't outright rebel, but by Merlin I wasn't going to observe courtesies here.

When I walked in, Harry was already sitting down in one of the desks, and Professor Umbridge was waiting behind hers. Harry looked almost angrier and more defiant than I felt. _Well, _I thought, _that makes sense. I mean, he was the one that witnessed You-Know-Who's return. And everyone thinks he's nutters._

I sat down without issuing a greeting to Umbridge, glancing at Potter. He acknowledged me with a slight nod of the head. I did the same. He looked grave, and I couldn't exactly say that I felt like smiling either.

"Ah," she said at last. "I see you two know each other. Excellent. Well, you know what they say. Birds of a feather."

For some reason, she looked happy about this. I figured she was probably looking for evidence of organization. She cleared her thick throat.

"Well then. Let's start this, shall we? You're here because you both spoke out in class today. Tonight, we're going to try and resolve that problem. Any questions?"

We both stared at her.

"Good. Well, Mr. Potter, why don't you go wait in my office and I'll get Miss Bell started in here?"

Harry stood up and left without a word. Umbridge zeroed in on me.

"Good evening, Miss Bell."

I didn't answer.

"Quiet tonight, are we? That's alright. You don't need to speak in order to write me lines."

I almost laughed out loud. _Lines?_ Seriously? This was a joke.

"What am I writing, Professor?" I asked, barely containing a grin.

"I want you to write, 150 times, the sentence 'I will respect authority.' You will do this, in this classroom, each of the three nights you're to be here. Is that clear."

"Crystal," I replied icily. I began to pull out a quill, but she stopped me.

"Ah Ah Ah, she said. "I have a special quill I want you to write with." She handed it to me. It was a curious deep red color. I shrugged and took it form her. Deciding in m head that by 'authority', she meant Professor Dumbledore, I began to write the sentence.

"Ouch!" I yelled, as soon as I had formed the first 'I'. I stared down at the back of my hand. The 'I' was inscribed there, and I was bleeding. I looked, terrified, at the blood red color of the 'I' that was now on the parchment. I glared up at her.

"What the hell is this!?" I shouted.

"Keep your voice down, Miss Bell," she said sweetly.

"I will not keep my voice down!" I yelled. "What are you playing at?? Bleeding your students dry with this demonic pen?!"

"I find that it _ingrains _in you the lesson I want you to learn. It will stay with you longer when you write with this quill."

"Bloody hell, it will!" I shouted, gesturing to my bleeding hand. "By scarring the back of my hand!"

"The less you misbehave, the less chance it will have of scarring you, dear," she smiled. I must go see Mr. Potter now. You'll excuse me."

"Oh, and I bet you have one of these flesh-eaters for him, too!"

"Yes, in fact. I was lucky enough to come across two. Goodnight, Miss Bell. And really do work on controlling your volume."

Once the door had shut behind her, I attempted several ways of trying to sue the blood that I had already drawn to finish the sentence. It was no use, though. Something with the pen made it so that I had to continue to write with the quill to form any kind of coherent word.

And so I bit back the tears and tried to refrain from wincing from the pain and continued to write about 25 of the required sentences, each word cutting out a bit of my own flesh. And hour later, Umbridge came back to watch me finish. When I did, I shoved the paper at her and made no attempt to stem the flow of blood from my hand as I marched out of the room and shut the door loudly behind me.

I went into the nearest girl's toiled and washed the blood off of my stinging hand. I then managed to sneak into the Hospital Wing and bind up my hand by myself Madame Pomfrey probably could have healed the entire thing for me in under a minute, but I wasn't willing to give Umbridge the satisfaction of knowing that I'd gone for help. It was for this reason, too, that I vowed not to breathe a word of what really went on that night to anyone. I wasn't even going to discuss it with Potter. This was between me and her. I was going to take McGonagall's advice and use my brain.

I stumbled into the Gryffindor common room at about 11:30. I'd forgotten hoping that Fred would still be up to greet me, but I hadn't I would have been gratified. He was sitting on the couch, dozing off. There were a few other small groups of students spread around the room, but it was empty for the most part. I tried to tiptoe past Fred to get back up to my bed, but he woke up.

"Katie!" he said. "You're back finally. That was quite the long detention, wasn't it? I think I waited here for almost two hours."

"You didn't have to," I said dully.

"Sure I did," he replied. "Come sit down."

I hesitated, and then did.

"I'm worried about Melanie," he said right away.

My hitherto suppressed anger surfaced at this comment. Fred couldn't tell that I was on the verge of a serious meltdown because he was so eager to discuss the condition of his friend Melanie.

"Why?" I spat out.

He didn't seem to pick up on this either. "Well, you know how Umbridge threatened her with detention today?" he went on. "It really scared her. I guess she's been crying all afternoon."

I rolled my eyes at this news. "I was the one that actually ended up with detention," I reminded him. "Shouldn't you be more worried about me?"

He laughed. "No," he said, grinning. "You're in detention almost as much as I am. Why would I be worried about you?"

I broke. I glared at him, scoffed, and threw a pillow hard at his face, folding my arms.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he shouted. "Katie, what's the matter?"

I stared into the fire.

"Come on, Katie. What the hell was that? What happened tonight?" He really looked at me for the first time since I'd come in. I rolled my eyes.

"Forget it, Fred."

"Oh, don't give me that shit, Kate. What's going on? What happened tonight?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I said flatly. Now I realized that I couldn't even share this with Fred.

"Kate, don't be like this. I'm sorry for assuming you were alright. It's just that you usually…are."

I sighed. "I know," I said. "It's just…this _woman_. Merlin, I hate her. I hate her _so _much, Fred."

"What did she make you do?" Fred asked calmly.

"Write lines," I said. "150 times of 'I will respect authority.'"

I could see him fighting not to betray the fact that he found it ridiculous that I was upset over something like lines. I appreciated it.

"That must have been hard to do for someone like her," he said finally.

"You have _no_ idea," I replied, thinking that he really didn't, actually.

"Well, let's just relax now, okay? Try and forget about it?"

"Yeah, alright," I gave in. He pulled me over to him and I cuddled in willingly.

"Whoa, what happened to your hand?" he asked suddenly, holding it up.

"Papercut," I said quickly, yanking it away.

"That's a big bandage for a paper cut," he said.

"Yeah, well, it was a big paper cut."

"I could take you to see Madame Pomfrey, if you want."

"I don't want," I snapped. "I just want to stay here."

He backed off. "Alright, Katie. You know, you really are high maintenance whether you want to hear it or not."

"Merlin, I really wish people would stop saying that," I groaned.

"Well, you are."

"Are you upset that I'm planning Seventh Year Ball?" I asked suddenly. This morning had come rushing back to me after that remark.

Fred was quiet. "Why would I be?" he said unconvincingly.

"Because," I said. "You're always uncomfortable when I'm involved in things."

"Katie, just drop it."

I pulled away. "Fred, stop acting like this. I'm trying to have a conversation with you."

"Just leave it alone. I don't care, okay?"

I frowned. Nothing could have told me that he cared more. I considered how to best handle his insecurity.

"McGonagall said I couldn't have you on the committee," I said slowly. "But she didn't say you couldn't be my date." I looked up at him hopefully. A grin started to spread across his face.

"You mean you want to go with me?" he said.

"I mean that I want to go with you," I repeated.

"But I thought you always went to these things alone?"

"I think it's time for a change."

"Even if it means being unfashionable and being seen with me?"

"I wouldn't want to be seen with anyone else," I laughed.

He grinned. "Great," he said. "I guess we're set."

I smiled, but wondered vaguely why he hadn't asked me out officially yet. I'd taken and awfully big risk; he should reciprocate. Instead, he just put his arms around me and pulled me closer to him. Oh well. This was nice. I had to remember to thank McGonagall for that advice on using my brain. It really seems to be paying off.


	13. Morning Rendevous in a Bar

**A/N: Thanks a bunch for the reviews, guys. I'll try to cut the drama queen crap from now on. DancingCavalier, thanks a ton for being so persistent. You made me laugh ) **

I don't know how much I've explained about my family up to this point. We're relatively pureblood; some of us have married muggle-borns or even muggles, but for the most part we're an all wizarding family. This, along with the fact that nobody in my family seems to have heard of the birth control charm, accounts for the legions of Bells that exist and that have passed through the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Unlike the Weasleys, we don't have any sort of physical trait that unites all of us, but there are certain behavioral quirks that seem to be a common thread throughout the family. The males, for example, are known for their unusually loud, attention seeking behavior that usually manifests itself through good-natured rebellion. Us females, in turn, are loosely referred to as "hussies". Quite a few of my cousins are regulars in the broom closets and almost all of us have been labeled as a man-eater at one point or another. I have very clear visions of being the first Bell woman to graduate Hogwarts without having kissed someone, let alone having had sex. Even my uptight cousin Astrid, a Ravenclaw with hair pulled back tighter than even McGonagall's, has a boyfriend who's putting out. This disturbs me. I expressed these fears to the Weasley twins around our fourth year, wherein George promised me he would not let me escape the castle a virgin. I proceeded to throw up in my mouth.

Altogether, the Bell family name usually signifies an individual who is loud, "experienced", spends an awful lot of time in detention, and who probably plays quidditch. The staff has jokingly referred to us for years as "Hell's Bells", and the first three in my generation to come to Hogwarts were my cousins Michael, Greg, and Thomas. Greg and Thomas are brothers born exactly nine months apart and Michael is another cousin in the same year. Together, they reestablished Hell's Bells and put the school through quite a bit of hell, or so I'm told. They were seventh years by the time I first stepped foot into Hogwarts, but they took me under their wing and honed my skills as a proper Bell family member. When I wasn't with the two young redheads, they were who I spent most of my time with and I developed a special bond with my cousin Michael. Naturally, I was thrilled when he returned to Hogwarts last year as a special assistant to Madame Hooch over first and second year flying. I was even more thrilled when I got a letter from him this morning announcing his return from yet another place I was not allowed to know.

"Oi! Katie, heads up!" Lee had said, indicating my owl, who proceeded to crash straight into my cereal bowl. Milk sloshed onto my front and bits of cornflakes stuck themselves to Fred's hair.

"_Herpes_!" I yelled at the snowy owl, swearing under my breath. Yes, my owl's name is Herpes. I selected him from the Owl Emporium before my first year and decided to call him Hermes, but while vacationing at the Weasley home, Fred repeatedly called him Herpes while I wasn't present and it's now the only thing he'll respond to. His vision also isn't that great. That occurred during our third year when Lee decided to see how well his aim was with an uncooked snow pea and a slingshot.

I untied the letter from Herpes's leg, directed him to peck at the cornflakes in Fred's hair (much to his protests and yelps of pain), and opened the single piece of parchment.

_Hey Scrawny!_

_I am pleased to inform you of my return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from (Haha! You're not allowed to know where!) and request a moment of your infinitely important time. We all have our responsibility to family, my love, and I'll not let you shirk yours. Therefore, I'll be seeing you at precisely 8:00 this morning. Meet me at the Three Broomsticks._

_Tata!_

_Michael_

I rolled my eyes. It would be like Michael to want to have a slosh at eight in the morning.

"Eight o'clock?" Alicia said after I'd passed around the note. "But that's when Transfiguration starts."

I looked at her curiously. "So?"

"So you're enrolled in the class. Don't you think it's a little important that you be there?"

I pretended to think about this for about three seconds. "Nope!" I said at last. "Just tell McGonagall I'm sick or that Fred gouged my eyes out with a breakfast fork or something."

"I'm closer to looking like my eyes have been gouged out," Fred said grumpily, "Thanks to your bloody chicken. You just _had_ to sick him on me, didn't you?"

I looked at Fred's scratches indifferently, calling Herpes to me and giving him a bit of toast. I patted him on the head. "And you just _had_ to call him after a sexually transmitted disease," I responded. "All's fair, love."

"Are you really going to see Michael?" interrupted George. "Can I come with?" Fred and George got along pretty well with Michael, for some reason involving their mutual lack of maturity and love of all things that caused pain to myself.

"_No_," Angelina said firmly. "There's no way McGonagall's going to believe that all _three_ of you got sick or injured or…whatever…on the same day."

Fred snorted. "If she knows us at all, she'll believe it."

"Nevertheless," she continued, "If Katie absolutely _has_ to go, she's going alone."

"I absolutely have to," I said shortly. "And I'm going to need that map of yours, Fred darling."

Fred rolled his eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you, drongo? We gave that map to Harry two years ago."

"Potter?" I said, offended. "You chose him over me?"

"Only in this teensie little way, schmoopie," Fred said obnoxiously, patting my cheek. Lee pretended to vomit.

"Okay, guys, please," he said. "Not at breakfast."

"Why?" I asked, feigning grave offense. "We have every right to show our love. Isn't that right, Freddie-kins?" I batted my lashes.

"Absolutely right, Kitchy-Koo," he said, tickling me under my chin. "In fact…"

Fred yanked me toward him and, surprised by the amount of force he exerted, toppled over with me on top of him. We landed hard on the floor, tangled and moaning.

"Nice one, _Freddie-kins_," I groaned, rubbing the back of my head.

"Yeah, yeah, just get off of me," he said, pushing me away.

"I'm _trying_. I thought you were the one that said you wanted to demonstrate our love, bat head."

"Not on the floor of the Great Hall."

"Why not?" I asked, surprising myself at my own boldness.

Fred actually grinned. "Excellent point, my dear," he said, leaning in toward me.

"Oi!" George called, craning his head over the table. "Could you do that later?"

"Sorry, brother," Fred said, still grinning devilishly. I laughed as he leaned closer. And then Melanie happened.

"Oh Em Gee!" she yelled, coming up the aisle. "What are you two doing?!" She looked deeply anxious, looking from Fred to me and back again. "I thought you said you weren't together! If you _didn't_ lie to me, that is_ so _inappropriate—"

"You're right, Miss Crow, it is inappropriate," said McGonagall crisply, moving Melanie aside. "Miss Bell, would you kindly extract yourself from Mr. Weasley and join the rest of the civilized world at the breakfast table?"

"Well, I _would_, Professor, but he's sort of on top of _me_, you see." Two aisles over, I could almost swear that I heard Professor Dumbledore, who was coming up the aisle, say, "Oh let them have their fun, Minerva."

Minerva, however, huffed and pulled Fred up by his ear. Fred yelped and I scrambled to my feet to avoid the same fate. She left, shaking her head. We looked embarrassedly at each other and took our seats again. Melanie still stood staring and looking rather daft.

"They were just messing around," Angelina said quickly. "It's a long story."

Melanie nodded slowly and sat on the other side of Fred.

"Well!" I said loudly, swinging one leg over the bench. "I'm off. Fred, what was that statue again? A humping witch?"

Melanie gave me a look of mortification and Fred rolled his eyes again. "_One-humped_ witch, Bell. Honestly." But he grinned at me before I left. I grinned back, but then saw him slyly put his arm around Melanie's waist. He was clearly still joking around with me, but her gratified face made me angry. I did not appreciate the joke. I turned on my heel and left to go see Michael. I heard the twins' laughter behind me.

It was not difficult to spot Michael. He was sitting at the bar, running his hands through his shaggy brown hair and flirting with Madame Rosmerta, the curvy and scantily clad barmaid. I rolled my eyes, sending a blasting spell from the end of my wand that broke one of the legs of his stool. He toppled to ground and Madame Rosmerta shrugged, proceeding to wipe off some of the tables.

"You realize you're an ass, right?" I asked, casually sitting down next to his collapsed stool.

"Batie Kell!" he yelled, crushing me into a tight hug. He released me quickly and then glared down at me. "I can't believe you're skipping class," he said, mockingly stern.

I scoffed. "Who're you to reprimand me? I don't think half your teachers knew you were enrolled in their class when you were in school."

He nodded acceptingly. "Touche, then," he said, mending the barstool with a flick of his wand and sitting back down next to me.

"So," I said dryly, "You've decided to remove me from my ruthless pursuit of knowledge to watch you flirt with a barmaid. Excellent."

Michael laughed. "Ruthless pursuit of knowledge, my arse. Who's the one who knew how to get to Hogsmeade on a school day? Besides, I'm dating Rosmerta."

I rolled my eyes. "You are not."

"Am too," he replied defensively. "I mean, maybe not _dating_, but I've definitely been shagging her."

I stared at him disgustedly. "You know," I said slowly. "I'd like—just for once—to pretend that my family is made up of decent people with some kind of moral center."

"Sorry darling, you're stuck with us."

"Obviously," I said ruefully. "Why else would I be in a bar at nine in the morning?"

"Hey!" he said defensively, "There is one point on which I can rebut. The Three Broomsticks happens to have the most delightful breakfast pastries I have had the luck to sample. Fancy a scone?"

My mind shot back to breakfast, where half of my cornflakes ended up in Fred's hair. "Yes," I said. "Make that two."

Once we were sitting at a proper table, putting jam on scones and settling in, I began a proper conversation.

"So where've you been?"

"Can't tell you that, Kate," he said, grinning. "Top secret."

I'd been expecting this, but I thought I'd ask anyway. "Well you're okay, aren't you?" I asked anxiously. "No wounds or anything?"

He rolled his eyes. "You sound like my mum."

"Michael!"

"Yeah, yeah. Well, I've got this kind of nasty gash across my chest—don't worry about it, Kates! It's nothing. Besides, witches think it's charming. Battle wounds."

I rolled my eyes, slightly reminded of _How to Charm a Witch_, a book I found in George's possession last summer. I'd been ready to destroy it on the spot, but both of the twins swore it was Bill's and that they'd only been returning it to him. I'm not sure how much I believe this story, but those ridiculously charming brown eyes—anyway.

"You're back for good, then?" I pressed. He shrugged.

"Until the Order needs me again, I suppose."

I sighed. "I hate war," I muttered.

He nodded soberly, his dark brown eyes showing momentary seriousness.

"How are Greg and Thomas?" I asked, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Good, they're both good. They're working for the Department of Magical Mishaps now. I guess the Department figures they've gotten into so many similar scrapes themselves that they'll always know precisely what to do."

I laughed pleasantly. "Sounds like them," I muttered.

"What about you? Heard you've been having problems with this Umbridge woman."

"Yeah," I said into my hot chocolate, my mood darkening. "She's a real wench, that one."

"Yeah, even though, Kates—"

"I know, I know. Don't cross her. Everyone's been telling me."

"Everyone's been telling you right. Just finish out your detentions and stay out of her hair, will you? It'll take a load off of my mind."

"I'm not yours to worry about, Michael," I snapped. "I can handle myself. I'm eighteen. Of age and everything."

"Well, now aren't you impressive," he scoffed.

"Merlin, Michael, just let me be me, will you?"

"Okay, okay. Just limit the number of dung bombs you put in her office." He grinned at me and I waved my hand aside.

"Please," I said. "I advanced from those things centuries ago."

He shrugged. "I still think they're funny."

"Yeah, well, you would."

"Say, tell me—you still on the fast track to become the only virgin lipped Bell to graduate from Hogwarts?"

I frowned. "Well, I wouldn't say _fast_ track…"

"Oh yes?" he said, perking up. "And tell me, darling, who would this potential speed bump be?"

His brown eyes twinkled and for some reason I blushed. "No one," I muttered.

"Oh yes!" he cried, slamming his mug down on the table, causing a lot of the brown liquid to lap over the edges. "Katie's got herself a boyfriend! Who is he?"

"He's not my boyfriend yet," I said quickly. "But I _have_ got a potential, so you can quit patronizing me about being a spinster now."

"No way, Bitty Bell. Not 'til you give me a name."

I sighed. "It's Fred," I muttered.

"Sorry? Didn't quite catch that."

"It's Fred," I said louder.

"One more time."

"For the thousandth time, it's Fred!" I yelled, shoving my mouth full of scone.

"Fred?!" Michael laughed incredulously. "Little Freddie Weasley?? Bill's brother?"

"Yes," I muttered. "And he's not _little_."

"One of the twins? And you're not lying to me here?"

"No, I'm not! Merlin."

"Well, well, well, isn't that just adorable. I've got to owl Bill. This is just too much."

"No!" I shouted, diving across the table to shut him up. "You cork it about this, alright?"

"Whoa! Calm down there, small one. I was just having a bit of fun."

"Yeah, well," I said, sitting back down and brushing crumbs off my front. "Just being sure."

He laughed at me. "I can't believe you're embarrassed," he said. "Makes sense to me."

"Yeah, well," I said, "The only thing is, he hasn't bothered to ask me out yet. I mean—what the hell, right?"

"Well, what's happened between the two of you?"

"Oh, you know. He's told me he likes me and everything. We've held hands and stuff…Oh, and we're going to Seventh Year Ball together. But I had to ask him to that."

Michael stared, impressed. "Really?" he asked. "You did the asking? You, who's too scared to bat an eyelash at anyone with a p—"

"Is that okay?" I asked loudly, interrupting a potentially embarrassing moment. "I mean, what would you think if someone asked you out?"

Michael shrugged. "Is she hot?"

I considered this. "Well, she's a good dresser," I said slowly. "But she's short and kind of judgmental."

Michael laughed. "I think you're fine."

"What makes you think that?"

"I just don't think Fred's too upset by it."

"How would you know?"

"Because he's followed you to Hogsmeade."

"What?!" I whipped around quickly and sure enough, Fred was letting himself into the bar, dressed in regular clothing and grinning from ear to ear.

"How's it going, Michael?" he asked, raising a hand in greeting. "Kates, what do you say we _don't_ go to class today?"

I grinned back at him. "Sounds excellent."


End file.
